How to be a Dragon's Hoard
by Morte-tan
Summary: NOW IN TEMPORARY HIATUS. Full information in my profile. I'm so sorry. I'll be back, though.
1. Chapter 1

Hi. My name is Morte. I am not new to this fandom, but this is still my first time writing story for this particular ship. Please take care of me. For your comfort for reading, click the contrast button. Trust me, it helps a lot.

Warnings: Toothcup eventual romantic relationship. Female Hiccup (if this isn't your cup of tea, you may click the back button). Hybrid Toothless, he can transform into a human (last warning to click the back button while you still can).

Disclaimer: None of this is mine, except the idea. Everything belongs to Cressida Cowell and Dreamworks.

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 **HOW TO BE A DRAGON'S HOARD**

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Chapter 1: The Deal

"Oh, Mighty Night Fury, please stop raiding my village." Little Hiccup exclaimed in the dark. Then there was a beat of wings. She felt rather than see something moved, and the darkness seemed to thicken, wrapping itself around her like thick black veil. She stood her ground when she saw a pair of inhuman eyes before her, boring itself into hers; a pair of bright toxic green eyes with specks of gold and slit pupils, like snake's or cat's. But she knew what those eyes belonged to; the most feared dragon, a Night Fury.

 _That is not my decision to make_ , it would sound like a combination of hisses, growls, and croons to outsiders, but to Hiccup, she could hear its voice clearly in her mind; a calming deep baritone. She doesn't hear it directly, instead she could feel it move around and speaking in her mind.

"Then whose decision is it? Let me persuade them." Hiccup tried again to negotiate with it.

It had been too much for her village to take; three raids in a month and the season was getting colder. There would be snow in only three weeks' time. There wouldn't be much supply for winter to come and if the dragon raided the village again, they wouldn't survive this year's winter. Hiccup, the smallest of her kin, took it upon herself to seek the dragon leader and negotiate with them—without telling anyone, off course. The Night Fury—or so it was called amongst her tribe—was the most feared dragon amongst the Vikings. It never stole anything, never showed itself, yet it never missed its shot. Their midnight black scales made the dragon invisible at night and made her kin impossible to shoot them down. From ancient times, their accuracy and intelligence was mind blowing—literally, and has been that way for more than three hundred years. If they even heard a wind of her _wanting_ to meet this dragon, they would die of laughter, probably literally.

Never, in her wildest dreams, that she ever thought of meeting this magical, fearsome dragon by her own; yet here she was, standing by her own in the middle of the forest—in which should she die here, nobody would ever found out—and talking with the most fearsome dragon amongst her kin, Night Fury.

She could feel the darkness scoffed, breathing sulfur-scented air around her. _Persuade them? You? A human? Much less as tiny as you?_ She could practically hear the mockery and disbelief coloring its voice. Hiccup set up her neutral mask as she always did whenever she heard this. She had heard this too much, since the time she could remember until she doesn't even remember anymore.

But this is what she chose. Being the smallest kin that she was, other bigger Vikings looked down on her, underestimating her, saying things behind her back, sometimes even outright in her face. Her same-aged friends were making fun of her; pushing her around, saying harsh things, beating her up, and everyone turned a blind eye.

Her father wasn't much different. Being a chief wasn't easy feat, she knew that, but that didn't give him excuse to forget her on her birthdays and never say goodbye when he went out for voyages. Her father never bothered to understand her—and she never met her mother. People said that she had died, being eaten by four-winged dragon during a raid fourteen years ago, just few months after she was born.

The only one who seemed to care for her was her Godfather, Gobber the Belch. He was a smith and she had been his apprentice ever since she was little—well, littler. He was the only one who understood her and accept her as who she was, because he had seen her brilliance and grace as she worked with his tools. She was an excellent student, he had said, and he himself had to admit that he never learnt as fast as she was. That made her proud and she could stand tall by telling herself that she was at least appreciated by Gobber.

But with the raid getting worse, while the winter was coming, the villagers were going restless. They were even suggesting about sacrifices to dragons. They never mentioned her, off course. No one dared mention her name in front of the chief, since she was his daughter. But she could tell; their stares and accusing looks gave it all. She had always been a sensitive girl and she was getting tired.

She was here not because anyone sent her, but because she was tired of life, and she wanted it to end sooner.

The eyes that bore into hers narrowed and a snarl came out, but she stood her ground. _I can sense a deep wound in your heart, little human._ It said and Hiccup's mask cracked a bit. _Why are you sacrificing yourself for the village that wouldn't appreciate your concern?_

Her frowned deepened. Why? That's because she was tired, right? But then why did she still trying to help? Is it because of desperation? "I…" Hiccup frowned and she looked down. She didn't understand. Everything suddenly became blurry. She had hardened her resolve into coming here and she had been certain that this would be the end. She had been ready.

The pair of toxic eyes suddenly dilated and stared at her softly. She swore she could see sympathy in those eyes. So dragons could feel sympathy too?

 _Little hatchling,_ it began softly in her head. _What do you actually seek?_

Her eyes widened more. What? Seek? What did she actually seek? She was sure she wasn't seeking anything by coming in here. But could it be what she had been looking for? Appreciation? Concern? Acceptance? Love? But those didn't matter anymore, right? She had hardened her resolve. She did this because she was tired. She was tired of being ridiculed, of being a mistake—of being her name, a Hiccup. If so, then why…

(As a tear unknowingly drops down, she cupped them on her palms. When was the last time had she cried? She didn't remember anymore. Her heart had numbed over the years. Yet she still could feel it, she could hear it; the sound of her heart being smashed into pieces. Hiccup brought her hands to her face, hiding tears that were silently trickling down her beautiful face.)

Then why was it that she feels so sad?

Her knees hit the soft grassy ground as the darkness continue to wrapped itself around her; but rather than felt threatened, she felt safer, calmer, as if it was protecting her from the outside world. _If I stopped raiding your village, what will you do to repay me?_ It asked instead.

Hiccup—grateful for the change of topic—looked up to the pair of eyes that had been watching her quietly—never judging nor mocking—with her own eyes, stained with tears. "I'll…" She gulped down a lump down her throat as she once again hardened her resolve. "You can do whatever you want with me."

The darkness shifted a bit and she could see the look in those inhuman eyes was getting conflicted. _Are you still sacrificing yourself, Little Hatchling?_ It asked with a calming baritone inside her head and fatherly croons in her ears.

"I am not sacrificing myself," she said quietly, brushing off the tears off her cheeks. "I will be the sacrifice, anyway—might as well turn myself in before they decide to throw me off the cliff or something—save myself the pain, you know." She shrugged offhandedly.

A sound of deep chuckle resonating inside her head and she realized that it was the dragon's. It was strangely calming. _You are an amusing little human._ They held their gazes for a few more moments before it decided, _I will take your offer, human hatchling. If you come with me, I will stop the dragons from raiding your village. And you won't have to put up with all those things you've suffered anymore._

She had to admit, the offer sounded too tempting. _I will give you three days to say goodbye to those you love. If you weren't here by the third day, I will come for you._

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Hiccup opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the brown wooden ceiling of her house. She slowly peeled herself up into sitting position and looked down. She was on her bed, wearing her white nightgown, with her bear-skin blanket around her. She frowned in confusion. What happened?

The last thing she remembered was the Night Fury. That's right. She had been in the forest, talking with the Night Fury—hadn't she? She almost laughed at the thought. _She_? Talking with a _Night Fury_? Even the thought of it made her feel as if everything was a dream, if it was really a dream. It felt so real, though. She could still feel the dragon's warm puffs of breath and the sulfuric scent around her. She remembered the last thing it said. It gave her three days to say goodbye, and if by the third day she didn't come, it will come for her. But it was all just a dream, right?

She was getting more confused by the second. Hiccup couldn't tell which reality and which dream is anymore. Does that mean that she was going crazy already? Hiccup nervously shuddered. She didn't want to end up like Mildew—the crazy old man who strangely hated her and blamed her for every unfortunate thing that happened in Berk. Thankfully, even though some people shared his opinion, everyone was still sane enough and had enough brain to defend her from some crazier things he had blamed her for.

That crazy old man had once blamed her for being born when thunderstorm came up on Berk, saying things like Thor cursed her for being born and wanted her die. She had been only six then and being cornered by some crazy old man. No one was helping, even though they eyed Mildew warily. Fortunately, her father came to intervene just when Mildew was about to hit her with his cane. Her father, Stoick the Vast—even though it seemed like he never cared about her, she was still his daughter—was beyond furious. He immediately sent her home earlier than usual, saying he would take care of it, and she ran to their house, like a puppy with their tail between their legs.

Then that night, he came home earlier than usual and asked her various questions, like if she were hurt, and what else that Mildew said, or why everyone else didn't help. That was how she knew that even though her father seemed to not care, he was still her father, the only family she had left after her mother died. And families don't abandon each other. They had a long awkward talk that night over dinner that she cooked, and he praised her cooking skill—he said that he was grateful that even though she inherit her mother's beauty, Hiccup didn't inherit her mother's cooking skill. They had laughed over that, and they talked a lot. Her father told her that her mother, Valka, wasn't the most skillful cook and he went ill just after he drank her yak-nog. She had laughed.

Hiccup smiled at the memory. She still loved her father. And even though it seemed that her father not cared about her, she knew he still loved her, because she was his daughter, the only family he had left after his wife passed away.

She made a decision. It doesn't matter whether the Night Fury was a dream or not. She would make a lot of memories with her father and Gobber. She would find out if it was a dream or not at the third day anyway. As she decided that, Hiccup sat up quickly, feeling the blood rushing to her head, and started to change her clothes.

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To be continued...

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Author's note:

Thank you for reading such short chapter. I'm sorry for any typos and grammar errors that I am not aware of. If you click review or favorite button and leave feedback or questions, I would really appreciate it and I would respond to them. Once again, thank you for reading. See you in the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Making Memories

Disclaimer: All characters aren't mine. Only the idea is mine.

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There was once a legend passed through generations to generations, that once upon a time, dragons and humans live together in peace. Humans and dragons mingled together and respected each other, each minding their own business.

There was a myth that dragons were actually Gods in disguise, that they came on to earth to brought fortune and strength. People from the eastern side of the earth especially believed in these stories and they prayed to the mystical dragons as Gods. There was even a story about some villagers who saw a group of warriors that had saved their village suddenly shape-shifted into a pack of dragons in the middle of the night and was never to be seen again.

But humans are jealous creatures. When they saw the flying dragons with shiny colorful scales, and heard the mystical and magical rumors surrounding them, they want it. They began to hunt down the dragons, took their teeth, talons, scales, head, and wings as decorations and sold them in high prices. They took alive dragons as pets, parading them around like a trophy with leashes and cages. Wary of the greed and destructive nature of the humans, the dragons started to migrate somewhere else, somewhere the humans won't find them.

They found it—a small volcano island to the north of the earth, surrounded with mist and canyons in the middle of the ocean, protected with dangerous corals. It was perfect. No humans could ever touch the island without their help. The small volcano island became their small haven. Dragons from the entire world would maneuver themselves in the middle of their migration to rest on this island and mother dragons would come here to hatch their babies. This island provided everything for dragons, from boiling lava, fresh water lakes and rivers, shades and greeneries of the forest, and fishes by the shores. For a long time, no humans dared or could set foot on to the rocky beach of their island. For a long while, it was a safe haven.

Then it appeared; this monster who called itself a King. It demanded respect and food— _lots_ of food. Being one of the rare alpha-king species that still remained, it controlled the flocks of dragon, taking residence inside the volcano. It took the hatchlings as its slaves and the females were reduced into egg machines.

It has a body as humongous as the volcano itself, six small eyes at the sides of its head, with crown-like spikes around its head. Its wings lay down to its sides, rusty from lack of use. It declared itself as the King and creator of all dragons for no dragons ever grown as huge as it was. It was ruthless. Any dragon dared to question it would meet their end inside its belly. This cannibalistic monster was the starter of the longest war between humans and dragons, and their little haven now became a living hell.

The once fresh and fragrant air was now filled with poisonous gas and nauseous miasma. Black rocks of granites and dry lands replaced the greeneries that once grew everywhere. The lakes dried and the river was not clean anymore; now it was filled with bloody, rotting remains of food the monster had abandoned. Flowers were no longer blooming. Birds don't fly there anymore. The once blue sky was now and will forever remain grey—as long as the monster was alive and ruling.

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Hiccup found her father in front of the hearth. "Mornin', Lass." He greeted and she smiled softly at him.

"Good morning, dad." She greeted back and hopped down the stairs.

"It's unusual for you to still be asleep after the sun is high," Her father commented. "I was about to wake you up, but I thought you need the sleep."

It was these little things that made her believe that their bond as a father and daughter still exists. "Sorry, dad. I was very tired." She made up an excuse. After all, with a small body like hers, he would still believe that some chores were hard for her. "Have you eaten yet? I'll make you something." She said as she hopped down the stairs into the kitchen.

"No, I've eaten breakfast at the great hall. I was just coming by to check you up." He said as he entered the kitchen as well. "As I said, it was unusual for you to be still asleep after I awoke. I was worried that you might be ill." His father's heavy footsteps were closing in on her and she looked up. Her father was _huge_ , as per usual Vikings supposed to be. She still felt like a baby compared to his huge, bear-like figure. His big, rough, calloused palm set itself on her forehead gently. She could feel her face getting warmer. It has been a long time since her father being this gentle on her and treated her as if she were a little child again. "Are you feeling well, lass? You're not that warm, but your face is red." A frown marred his hairy face as he scrutinized his daughter.

"I'm fine, dad, really." Hiccup took his father's hand into hers and she realized that his hand was so big that even her two hands couldn't cover them up. Then she remembered the dream. "Actually, I have this strange dream, dad." She began.

"A nightmare?" Her father began worriedly.

She shook her head. "Not exactly a nightmare either. It's just that; weird." She finished. It was quite awkward after that, before she forced a smile to her father, "Hey, dad. I'm making a roasted lamb for dinner. You'll be home for it, right?"

Her father's eyes softened and he rustled her hair, "Off course, lass. I'll be sure to come home for dinner, if there's no raid tonight."

She smiled wistfully as she playfully pushed her father's hand away from mussing her hair, "Okay, okay. Stop messing my hair already." It was no promise. Her father never kept his word and she was always hurt. It has been countless times when her father didn't join her for dinner because he was home late, from meeting with the villagers about killing the dragons.

She faked a smile as she waved goodbye to her father as his back disappeared behind the front door. His earlier words weren't a promise, but it was good enough if he were to keep his word. Her smiled faded. She wondered if he had ever felt guilty for not keeping his word. He had never said any word of apologize to her. It was always she who had to say it. Then again, she was usually the one who made mistakes.

Their bond, though exists, it was thin as a string. Stoick—or she even—could snap it with a single word. She wondered if this was where she really belonged.

The day was getting later. Sun was getting higher. She needed to get out and clear her head.

 _I will come for you_. That voice kept ringing in her ears and mind. She could still feel the toxic green eyes watching her and the darkness crept up on her. She was getting paranoid. Hiccup shuddered as she made her way out of the empty house. Who knows, Gobber might needed her help today.

As made her way out of her house and to the smithy, she passed by the group of her same-aged friends—though they were not really 'friends', only acquaintance.

"Look, here comes Hiccup the Useless," Snotlout, the bulky kid, snickered mockingly. Hiccup just rolled her eyes and walked pass him. "Hey, did you get to talk to the Night Fury last night?" He asked with a mocking tone and laughed at her, joined by the twins.

" _She_? Talk to the _Night Fury_? She wouldn't even survive in the Dragon Ring before Gobber release the dragons!" Ruffnut, the female twin, laughed out loud mockingly.

"That's right, what could she do anyway? She has done nothing so far, other than wrecking the village even worse than the dragons!" Tuffnut, the male twins, slapped his knee and laughed at his own joke, joined by his twin and Snotlout.

Their words hurt, but it was nothing she could handle. They were always like this ever since she could remember. It was still hurt, but it hurt less the more she hears it.

"You'd better off disappear, Hiccup. There's no way Stoick would choose you as the Chief— _I'm_ obviously the one who will inherit the title as Chief!" Snotlout boasted, pointing his thumb at himself. "With you gone, my chance of becoming Chief will doubled!" He said with an excited expression.

Hiccup rolled her eyes. Yes, it was true. As the Chief's heir, she was supposed to be the next line to the title. Yet, with her being… well, Hiccup, she knew there will be no chance for her to be the chief. She was sure that her father will surely choose Snotlout, because he was her cousin—whether they liked it or not. Yes, Snotlout was her cousin. He was the son of Spitelout, Stoick's younger brother. Therefore, if Stoick wanted to, Snotlout could very well be chosen as the next Chief.

But she didn't care, really. Because being a chief to this village wasn't her thing. She didn't have any desire to be the chief, to lead these people—no, she doesn't want to! She'd rather become the Night Fury's food than become the chief of this village. There was no way she could lead the people who hated her very being.

Then she had a fleeting thought. If this is how her last memories were going to be in the village before she was going to take the Night Fury's hand, then she sure as hell would choose the Night Fury a thousand times over.

She ignored the mockery and laughter amongst the three people and walked further to Gobber's forge. "Hey! Go find someone yer own sizes, ye children of half troll!" Gobber's voice echoed around the field. Hiccup looked up, surprised at Gobber's outburst. She looked back as Snotlout and the twins laughed before ran off to the other side of the hill.

Hiccup looked up again at the man with blond mustache in front of her and smiled gratefully. "Yer welcome, Hiccup. Now come on, your job is waitin'!" He said as he ushered the small girl into the forge. Hiccup giggled.

This was Gobber, her Godfather and the one who practically raised her since her mother died, the one who actually show her that he cared and always the one who defend her when she was bullied, the one who cheered her up when she was down. She has been his apprentice in forging business; crafting tools, making weapons, and designing new ones, in hopes to help the village strengthened the defense for dragon raids. She had become a master over the years learning under Gobber, whose motto was "learning on the job", and she had acquired countless scars throughout the years.

On her twelfth birthday, which her father had forgotten—again—and needed to attend a meeting of chief, Gobber had cleaned the small back room where he usually put spare parts, and conjured it into a comfortable little room; with a desk, a chair, a bookrack, and a small bedding whenever she felt like staying in the forge to finish her late-night project. Gobber had known for years teaching her that she liked crafting, designing, and creating new things, and he had to admit that she was as boar headed as both her parents. She would not sleep before her project was finished. The least he could do was to facilitate her with everything she might need. The room was separated from the main forge only with a thin sheet of worn out orange fabric, but for Hiccup it was the place of privacy that she needed.

As she worked with Gobber that day, they talked about many things—some were not that important and some were just incessant bantering, but she was happier here. Hiccup was about to make the finishing touch on the weapon she had just repaired when she took a deep breath and called for her Godfather, "Gobber?"

"What it is, Lass?" Gobber asked without turning from his job.

"I just want to say thank you." She finally said with a shrug.

Gobber finally turned with a raised blond eyebrow, "For what?"

Being watched like that made her a little nervous, so she just shrugged, "You know, everything." She said softly. "For being there for me when no one else does, and also… you know, for the private room you make for me back there." She said with an awkward laugh. "So yeah, thank you." She said as she looked at Gobber softly, smiling genuinely.

Gobber's eyes softened and he laughed, patting her back, "Don't mention it, Lass. It's my job as a Godfather and as your mentor; it's the least I can do for you." He spoke with conviction. He chuckled before he looked up to the sky; the sun was about to set. "It's getting late. You should go home before your father threw a fit again, Hiccup."

Hiccup sighed and she smiled. "That's right. I've promised that I would cook him dinner. I hope he's home early tonight. Not that I'm highly expecting him to." She shrugged to herself.

Gobber let out a breath inaudibly, "There's no raid tonight. I'm sure he won't be held back. Even if he is, I'll make him home." He said as he patted her back.

"Talking about raids," Hiccup suddenly remembered the dream she had just the night before. She immediately faced Gobber. "Gobber, you might think I'm crazy, but—"

"Lass, if you think you're going to enter the Dragon Academy, then yes, I think you're crazy." Gobber cut off.

"That's not what I was going to say." Hiccup rolled her eyes. "It's about the raid. I had a dream last night, you know. Call it a vision if you will." She said seriously. "I think there will be a raid in three days from now, and…" She hesitantly looked up to Gobber. "I think… a night fury will be there."

Gobber frowned in a serious manner as he turned fully towards her. "Now, lass, I don't know much about visions. But I think you shouldn't underestimate this dream of yours. It might be a warning from the Gods. What else did you dreamed about?" He asked as he put both hands on her shoulders.

"I—I heard a voice. It said that," Hiccup hesitated as Gobber nodded to urge her to continue. "That, that he'll come for me." She finally said uncertainly.

Gobber narrowed his eyes. For the first time, she actually saw him completely serious. Then she blinked and the expression melted. Gobber laughed merrily like he always did and patted her shoulder, "I got it, Lass. You make sure to stay inside three days for now, okay. Don't let your dad knows, he'll freak out."

Hiccup shrugged. "It's just a dream, anyway."

"As I said, you shouldn't underestimate dreams. They could be warning and directions from the Odin himself." Gobber said. Then he pushed her lightly outside, "Now off you go. Make the most delicious roasted lamb there is—and don't forget to spare me some, eh?"

Hiccup giggled and waved goodbye. She turned and ran off towards the hill where her house in located. She didn't notice Gobber frowned seriously and packed some things before heading down towards the Elder Gothi's house.

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Her father wasn't usually home early. He was always out, helping more people, holding more meetings, and fighting more dragons. That's why she was surprised when she pushed her front door to the sight of her father poking the hearth, the fire already lit.

"Dad!" She yelped in surprise. Her father straightened up and turned to her in question. "You're early."

Her father smiled in response, "Yes, I just traded my dragon head with a pair of lambs, a basket of potatoes and tomatoes, and a basket of rare salmon." He boasted as he showed her his prize. Hiccup stared at the dinner ingredients with awe. "I went home early just to show you this. I thought you want to take a look."

She smiled as she stared at the salmon. Salmons in Icelandic sea were very rare, because they could only be found in warmer areas. The fact that salmons are rarer than a dragon's head in itself was saying something. "These are amazing, dad. Thanks!"

Her father patted her back, "Don't thank me; thank your amazing cooking skills. We're having a feast tonight." Her father grinned.

Hiccup turned her eyes upwards to her father's, "Do you want to help?"

Her father's eyes widened, "Can I?"

Hiccup grinned, "Off course! Who else is going to bring these things to the kitchen? I certainly can't!" She giggled as she raced to the kitchen.

Her father guffawed, "I don't remember you being so sneaky." But he went after his daughter anyway, carrying the lambs over his left shoulder and the baskets in his right hand.

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Author's Note:

I'm sorry for the delay. Here is the new story for you. I hope this satisfy your curiosity. There will be nothing happen until the fourth chapter, I'm afraid. But I believe pacing is important. I'm sorry for the grammar mistakes and typos scattered about. I'm sorry too if the chapter is too short for your liking. I will be working harder for the next chapter.

I've been working on other fandoms too. You are welcome to read my other stories if you're into it. Please visit my profile for more information.

For **Monkey lover 911** , there are the teens in this chapter. But I honestly, I don't know if I will keep them coming for the oncoming chapters. I usually don't plan for what the next chapter would be, that's why, just keep in tune. Perhaps I will go with the flow and decided to bring the teens back. I personally can't stand Snotloud. The rest are okay, so maybe they will appear in later chapters.

I can't believe it; one chapter and there are more than 20 followers and more than 200 views! Thank you, readers! You guys are awesome. Please send me your love and support by clicking reviews or favorite or follow button. I deeply appreciate it. I'll see you in the next chapter very soon. ;D


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: I'm Coming for You

Disclaimer: All characters belongs to Cressida Cowell and Dreamworks.

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 _It's the third day, little hatchling. Are you ready?_

Hiccup opened her eyes to this voice. She looked around to see the interior of her room through eyes blurry with sleepiness, but no one present beside herself. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and tried again, half expecting something black popped up, but after seeing none, she shook her head.

It was the third day after the seemingly bizarre dream. After she cooked with her father, it seemed that her father's attitude had mellowed a bit towards her for the past two days—added that to the fact that it had been at least six days without raid, it didn't just put her father into a good mood, but also an anxious anticipation. But it wasn't just her father—everyone and the air around the village were buzzing with a nervous and anxious anticipation. She found that it affected her too. She found herself surprisingly antsy today. Not just because of the mysterious voice that spoke to her before she woke up, but she also felt something watching her—more intently than the last three days. She noticed the feeling—it began the first time she had that bizarre dream of meeting the black dragon, it went on until yesterday and apparently the feeling was stronger today than before. She didn't know if it was because the nervous anticipation or because the one who watching her was way closer than before…

"Yer spacing out again, Hiccup." She snapped back to the consciousness and twirled to face her mentor, "Ye okay there, Hiccup? Ye seem unlike yourself today."

"I'm fine. It's just that… I had that dream again." She answered nervously.

"Ah, don't worry about that. I've talked to Elder Gothi about your dream and she had successfully gathered people to get ready for the raid." Gobber said with a proud smile.

Hiccup gasped, "What—what are you doing, Gobber?" She panicked.

"What? What did I do?" Gobber stared at confusedly.

"You can't just tell her to prepare people mindlessly! What if the dream didn't come true? People are just going to blame me for getting worked up over nothing! You have to convinced them to take down the—"

"Lass, lass, calm down. Take a deep breath." Gobber grabbed her shoulder and pressed her firmly but gently. Hiccup did as told and she instantly calmed. "There, are you ready to listen?" Hiccup's cheeks heated with shame but she nodded. Gobber released her when he was sure she was calm enough to listen. "I've told you before that dreams aren't things that cannot be underestimated. And you've been having these dreams for how many nights now?"

"Three, to be exact."

"Exactly. You couldn't have been having those dreams for no reason. Add that to the fact that there weren't any raids for the last six days. I'm sure you felt it too, don't you, lass—the anticipation in the air?" Gobber asked slowly. "These are the signs from the Gods. Even if this hunch was wrong, we have nothing to lose by getting ready for anything. There's no such thing as being too careful. You understand, don't you?"

Hiccup sighed and nodded mutely. She didn't know that Gobber would take her this serious about a dream that she wasn't sure would come true. But it's true that she also felt the same unease that the rest of the village felt. But even so, that wasn't the reason why she had this feeling of someone watching her. She didn't want Gobber to know what that voice had said this time. The other two times, he said that he will come for her. But this time, it was different; he had asked if she was ready.

Hiccup shook her head to clear it. She had to put it together. It really wasn't like her to just gone panic when there was really nothing to worry about. She should just trust Gobber on his judgment. Besides, he was the only one who would listen to her. Even to her own ears, her dreams didn't make sense, but Gobber was willing to listen and even took her seriously. She should be grateful, but she feared if people will shunned her more if her dreams weren't real and they would be getting worked up over nothing.

Realizing where her thoughts were going, she squared her shoulder with a new determination. She had been shunned forever, it doesn't matter if there were more people shunned her anyway—she had survived this whole life without those people, she could survive more of the life ahead of her without them.

"Thanks, Gobber," Gobber looked stopped in the middle of hammering to look at her. "For listening to me."

Gobber smiled gently and patted her head, "Don't mention it, lass. Besides, it's the least I can do in your family—where no one ever listens." He guffawed as Hiccup smirked amusedly.

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"Dragons!"

The shout reverberated in the whole village of Berk as Hiccup looked out of her window to see the situation. The sky was still dark and people were lighting the torches. Dragons were everywhere and the villagers seemed a little bit overwhelmed at how many dragons came. Hiccup could also feel overwhelmed and a little bit of awe at how many dragons out there. It wasn't like a normal raid, she realized. No dragons had snatched any of their livestock, but they already fought like hungry monsters.

They seemed like they would need a bit of help, Hiccup thought as she closed her window and ran down the stairs. She wanted to help at least mend the swords and other weapons by the forge. The dragons seemed a bit more ferocious tonight, unlike the other nights.

She quickly ran out of her house, dodging people and dragons around her respectively to not get in the way. But her small stature immediately caught people's eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"Get back inside!"

"Hiccup, you shouldn't be outside!"

"Dragons will get you!"

"You'd got carried off!"

She felt a strong hand grabbed ahold the scruff of her collar and easily lifted her up away from the incoming fire burst. "Hiccup! What is she doing out—eh, what are _you_ doing out here? Get back inside!" Her father firmly pushed her away from the battlefield and into the general direction of the forge.

She rolled her eyes and ran towards the forge, where she was greeted by Gobber who isn't too thrilled seeing her outside. "Hiccup! By Thor, lass, what are you doing here? You should be inside!"

"Gobber, aren't you seeing what the dragons are doing? They aren't stealing any of the livestock!" Hiccup yelled as she wore her apron and started to heat up the furnace. She was sure something was up and she knew that only Gobber would be willing to listen to her. There was no livestock being stolen but the dragons still fighting anyway. They turned up every house and buildings—it looked like they were searching something.

"Lass, whether or not they're stealing the livestock, they're here attacking us! You should've been inside! What did your dreams said?" Gobber insisted as he hammered two swords at once.

Hiccup didn't mind him as she put her whole body weight to keep the fire going. "The least I could do is helping you mending these swords!" She grunted as she pulled a hammer into both her arms. Gobber didn't answer as they concentrating in mending every piece of broken weapon thrown to their window. Hiccup stole glances to the side window, seeing Astrid, Snotlout, the twins, and Fishlegs putting down the never-ending fire, other adult Vikings fighting off the dragons.

As she watched the other Vikings fought the dragons, she realized that none of the livestock or fishes had been stolen yet, but the dragons burned down houses, or just completely wreck them. Other than that, they seem more aggressive than usual. Even the number of them was unusual—it seemed to her that the dragons brought more cavalries tonight. And their behavior… she felt like they were searching for something.

 _Where are you, little hatchling?_

The now familiar voice was echoing within her head as she suddenly realized what—or rather who—the dragons were looking for.

Suddenly everyone hears s high screeching sound that made everyone looked up in alarm.

"Night Fury!"

"Get down!"

A blast destroyed the village's catapult, and another blasted the watching tower.

Hiccup instinctively ran towards the window and looked up to see the catapults she had built had destroyed to pieces and the watch towers burning in fire.

"Man the fort, Hiccup! They need me out there!" Gobber suddenly yelled as he ran out of the forge. Hiccup turned to him with blank, rather confused expression. He turned to her and said menacingly, "Stay. Put. There." Hiccup blinked twice. "I mean it, Hiccup! You'd better not ran off with some dragons when I get back!" Then he ran off with a battle yell.

Hiccup knows a chance when she sees one.

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She couldn't believe how stupid she was; in the middle of the raid, in the middle of the night, running around in the middle of the woods, searching for the legendary Night Fury. Now that she had thought about it, she wanted nothing more than to beat herself shitless. For someone who prided herself on having a brain, this is not what someone who has brain would do.

She panted heavily, resting her hands on her knees, wiping the sweat forming by her chin. She wondered where the Night Fury was. She assumed that it would be waiting for her in the woods, where she met him the first time. But the sky was still dark, there will be no sun for at least a few hours—and she was in the woods, for Thor's sake. How will she be able to navigate through this dark forest without any lights, let alone find the place where they first met?

A dragon roar made her look up and she met eye to eye with a monstrous nightmare. She rolled her eyes, "Oh, come on." She bolted as fast as she could, the dragon fast on her heel.

It's true that the only physical thing she held pride is only her speed. But she had been running around the forest until only a few moments ago—she wouldn't have much stamina to outrun the dragon on her heel.

She heard the dragon took a breath and she screamed—that was the only sign the dragon gave before a blast of lava burst from its mouth. She quickly dove behind some large stone before she got melted and she curled her whole body smaller as the lava burst around the stones. As the lava died down, Hiccup cautiously turned around to the right to check—and just her luck, the dragon turned around to her left, ready to sink its fangs to the unsuspecting Hiccup—before a blur of black intercepted and drive itself into the monstrous nightmare's snout. Hiccup, being a small human, just stared as she crawled backwards into a general safety of the darkness.

The monstrous nightmare shook its snout, but the black blur that she identified as a smaller dragon persisted and blue plasma blasted out of the black dragon's snout. The monstrous nightmare was more shocked than hurt; it swayed and tripped by its own limbs. The black dragon stood by him, its head and wings held high, clearly showing more authority and dominance than the monstrous nightmare. The red dragon quickly stood, gave a few—what she thought—apologetic croons, and flew away from the spot.

Hiccup could only gape as she witnessed the outstanding situation in front of her. Then it dawned on her just who the dark dragon was.

"Night Fury," her mouth whispered the sacred name.

As if it heard her, the black dragon turned and started walking towards her. She scrambled backwards in panic before the voice came back, _no need to panic, little hatchling._ She looked up to the black dragon in shock and a little bit of awe. _I would never hurt you._

Hiccup faltered as she hesitated. The dragon kept coming closer and closer to her body. She already felt intimidated. The dragon's eyes were hypnotic, being a color of toxic green with golden specks. She closed her eyes, waiting for an attack, only for a soft touch on her hair-covered forehead.

When she looked up, she only saw soft black scales. "Eh?"

 _I've found you._

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Author's Note:

I'm sorry for the shortness. I haven't been able to write these days. I'm busy preparing my vacation this week. I would probably update in the next month or so. I hope this story satisfy you. I haven't been able to find good plot for this story yet. Hopefully inspiration strikes me during vacation.

For **Monkey lover 911** : Thank you for your review. I cannot tell you what will happen (I don't even know what will happen), you just have to see for yourself. *wink*wink

For **UncleJoe56** : Thank you, I appreciate your kind words. I hope I will be able to improve and make the story even more interesting. *bow*bow

That's all for me. Thank you for reading. Leave a review for feedback or if you just want to complain about how horribly I'm doing this chapter, click the favorite or follow button if you like it. I would really appreciate it. Thank you everyone and I'll see you in the next chapter. Bye bye for now :D


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the long wait, everyone. The next chapter is up! I've edited this chapter after a few helpful comments, and because I cannot bear reading so much grammar errors in one chapter, especially in my own.

Disclaimer: all characters belong to Dreamworks and Cressida Cowell.

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Chapter 4: Conflict

Hiccup panted, watching the Night Fury in front of her with wariness. Its green toxic eyes glowed in the darkness like cat's, watching her with the knowing eyes she remembered, even if it was a dream. Actually, now she doubted that everything was a dream now. This dragon looked pretty much real.

 _Don't worry, little hatchling. Everything is going to be over soon._

She heard the familiar voice again in her head, cooing softly, as if careful not to startle her.

Then the darkness thickens before a young man stepped out of the darkness, wearing black overcoat and brown fur boots. He looked young—only looked a few years older than her, perhaps in his early adulthood—with smooth fair skin. There were no facial hair she could see but he looked handsome in his own way. His hair was black like coal and his eyes were bright toxic green eyes, seemingly glowing in the dark. He didn't wear any helmet, so he was definitely not of Viking origin.

He offered his hand to her. "As per our deal, I've come for you, Hatchling." He said and Hiccup instantly recognized his voice. It was the voice that had been inside her head all along. "Come with me and I will leave your village alone." He stated calmly, hand still stretched towards her, waiting.

Hiccup hesitated. "What… what if I don't come with you?"

The man didn't flinch as he answered calmly as he dropped his hand, "The dragons would not stop until they destroyed everything. We, dragons, don't break our vows and our vow is to stop when you have come with me." He explained.

Hiccup processed this and she sighed, "I don't have a choice, do I?"

"You have," The man said instead and once again offering his hand to her. "Come with me and your village survived, or not coming and have your revenge against your village."

"Re—revenge?" Hiccup stuttered the word as if it was a curse.

"Off course." The man shrugged and his hand fell momentarily. "You don't want to tell me you haven't been harbouring grudges over the harsh things you have endured while you live there, don't you?" Hiccup just stared at him, horrified at what he was implying. "I have been watching you since our encounter three days ago, Hatchling, and I understand the reason of the wound I sensed in your heart." At least that would explain the feeling of being watched lately. "I have seen what many humans can do when treated unfairly and abused for a long time; either they would going on rampage or break down; either they would fight back or run away. What is your choice now, Hatchling?" He offered his hand again. "Are you going to take my hand and run away? Or will you refuse me and fight them back?"

Hiccup stared at the offered hand warily, as if he was holding a knife. "If you wish to run away, take my hand—and you will never again have to endure all the abuse you have been through." That did sound so tempting for her. "But if you wish for revenge, refuse me, and my dragons will destroy your village and everyone in it. Either way, you will never have to see the faces of your tormentor again."

Hiccup stared at his offered hand. She had to admit that everything he said was tempting her to the high heavens. So basically, she thought, whatever she chose, she would never be an outcast anymore. She just had to choose between kill or not to kill. But she had never been a murderer—she had never even seen chickens being slaughtered. Hiccup knew that she would not be able to bear the thought of her people slaughtered just because of a mere grudge she harboured. She sighed inaudibly as she stared at his hand in determination before slowly take it.

"I see you decided to take my hand," The boy commented with a smirk. "I have to admit, my hand were getting tired there for a while." Hiccup glared at him, not amused. Cheeky bastard. He suddenly pulled her up and Hiccup yelped in surprise more than pain as she landed on her feet. The boy crouched with his back in front of her, "climb on, Hatchling."

"My name is not 'Hatchling'!" She protested as she carefully obliged him. Resting her weight against the boy's back, letting him gripped her thighs securely against his hip, as she let her hands hung on his shoulders. "My name is Hiccup."

The boy just smiled in pride before nodding, "Alright then, Hiccup," He used her name for the first time. "Close your eyes and hang on to me. This is going to be a very high ride."

Hiccup just blinked uncomprehendingly as the boy crouched and leaped so high and so fast that the wind slapped her cheeks. Hiccup shrieked as she reflexively curled her arms around his neck and she heard loud flap of large wings. She didn't know anything. All she knew was, when she opened her eye lids, all she saw was the vast open black sky.

She didn't really know what it feels to be flying, since she had never been flying before. But if there was anything she could describe when flying, it was exhilarating.

.

.

After a few hours of fighting—Stoick doesn't know how long they have been fighting actually—the dragons are finally let up and they could breathe easily again. "Right," He nodded to himself. "What casualties do we have?" He asked to Spitelout, the nearest man by him.

"There are more than 20 destroyed houses that we need to build again. Seven people gotten hurt, but nothing they could handle. Five sheep and two mares have gotten hurt, and three dead foals." He said, reading the notes some men had given him.

Stoick raised his eyebrows, "That's it? What about our fish hauls this morning?"

"They apparently left untouched, Chief." Spitelout answered.

"Then what about the chickens?"

"The dragons didn't even come particularly close to the chicken barns."

Stoick just blinked stupidly at the rare occurrence. It was very rare that dragons barely took anything. Then he shrugged, "I guess that' good then. At least we'd still have something to eat in winter."

"Especially after Hiccup made us lose that herd of sheep last week." Murmured Spitelout. Stoick heard him but didn't say anything. After all, it is that it was Hiccup's fault. Speaking about Hiccup…

"Where is she now?" He asked Spitelout, but other man just shrugged. Stoick understood; it was not Spitelout's job to look after her. Nobody would want to keep track of what she was doing; Hiccup could be very unpredictable. Besides, Spitelout had his own son to keep an eye out too. His son could also be very uncontrollable too, always doing whatever he likes. Stoick shook his head at the thought of Spitelout's boy; at least his daughter could behave much better than Snotlout.

"Stoick! Stoick!" That was Gobber's voice. He had never heard him sounded so panicky before. He frowned. Something bad must've happened.

He turned to his best friend, "What is it, Gobber?"

"It's Hiccup! I can't find her anywhere!"

Stoick felt something akin to ice block dropped into his stomach. "What are you talking about?"

Gobber panted, "I've left for a while to fight dragons. I left her in the forge, where I knew she'd be safe. I've warned her not to go anywhere. I should've known better. When I got back, she was gone! My forge is all destroyed—nothing standing but the fireplace!" He recounted with frantic movements. "Stoick, I think a dragon got to her."

Stoick felt dread spreading through his whole being. "No. Form search parties to look for her! She must be still loitering around the woods! Gobber, you're with me!"

"Right behind you, Stoick!" Gobber immediately followed him.

"Wait, Stoick," Spitelout tried to reason with him. "It is night-time already, everyone is tired and there are casualties that must be fixed. We would need to get some rest first."

The Viking chief turned so fast and Spitelout found himself face to face with a very angry Viking father. "Either you're with me or not, Spitelout. I will not rest before I find my daughter." His voice was low and dangerous and Spitelout has no choice but to obey if he valued his life.

Just as the adults hurriedly formed search parties according to the chief's lead, the teenagers who had been busy helping to clean the debris watched passively from the side-line.

"You heard? It looks like Hiccup was missing." Fishlegs instigated.

Tuffnut barked a laugh, "She's probably eaten by a dragon or something else by now."

Ruffnut bonked his head upside down. "That's not funny, Idiot. She could've probably died."

"Hey, I'm not complaining. No Hiccup means fewer nuisances for the village and more chance for me to become a chief." Snotlout boasted and turned to the silent Astrid and brazenly tried to put his burly arm around her shoulder. "You hear that, Astrid, babe? I'll be the chief for sure. Don't worry; you won't have to work for the rest of your life once you've become my wife."

Astrid grimaced disgustedly and punched the cheeky boy in the face. "In your dreams; that's where I'll ever become your wife."

Fishlegs stuttered, "But, guys, Hiccup is our friend. Shouldn't we help them search for her too?"

Ruffnut, hummed before nodding in agreement, "You know what? For once, I agree with Fishlegs. No matter how annoying she is, I still don't want a member of this village die if we could help it."

Snotlout huffed while spitting blood from Astrid's punch earlier. "My answer is no. Having Hiccup here never benefits this village, especially me! Did you remember how I told you about my father's amazing idea of bringing sacrifice to appease the Gods to eliminate the dragons and how we should've done that with Hiccup?" He barked a cruel laugh, "I agreed with him! If that happened, at least that Hiccup could be useful for once!"

Tuffnut rolled his eyes. "How could we forget? You talked about it all the time. That was the sickest idea I have ever heard. And coming from me, that's saying something."

Snotlout didn't pay heed to him and turned away, "Whatever. Losers who sided with that useless Hiccup aren't worth my time anyway." He walked away from the group.

Ruffnut scoffed when she no longer saw Snotlout's bulky figure, "Like we need him around. Come on, guys! Let's see if the adults need our help." Tuffnut and Fishlegs began to follow her, but she stopped when seeing Astrid not moving an inch. "Astrid, come on! You're the most reasonable here. What do you say?" Ruffnut tried to coax her.

Astrid turned away from her friends. "We're just teenagers. We'd get in the way." She said simply as she began to walk away.

Ruffnut frowned, "What are you saying, Astrid? We can't just let Hiccup out there alone!" She cried.

Astrid glanced at her with an annoyed expression, "You shouldn't be a hypocrite when you and Tuffnut were the ones who picked on her most of the times."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I want her to die!" Ruffnut denied. "We were just having a little fun! Weren't we, bro?" She glanced at her brother for support.

Tuffnut scratched his helmet covered hair, "I don't know. I mean, we were pretty mean." Ruffnut, unsatisfied by his answer, kicked him on the shin.

"See? At least Snotlout has the decency to be honest about his feelings." Astrid retorted.

"Yeah? So you're going to follow him home and let Hiccup die? Is that what you're saying?" Ruffnut retorted angrily.

Astrid frowned in displeasure. "What I am saying is we are weaker than the adults and we would just be in their way or being a burden if we're trying to help them!" She raised her voice. "To be honest, I do not care less if Hiccup survived out there or not, but it is best to leave these matters to the adults. What we can do right now is to train however best we can so we do not end up to be a burden like Hiccup is doing right now!"

Both the twins and Fishlegs flinched at her cold reasoning. Ruffnut frowned deeply as she processed what Astrid just said, "I see." She paused before adding, "All these times I thought you were wise, Astrid. I guess I was wrong." She then turned away from Astrid. "Come on, guys. Let's search for Hiccup."

Tuffnut scoffed at Astrid before following his sister. Fishlegs stared at Astrid sadly, "You know, if you're always lying to yourself, you're going to regret it someday, Astrid." He said before turning around slowly and following the twins at the much slower pace.

Astrid stared at the three retreating figures, conflicted. She knew what she had just said to them were right. None of them were wrong. Then why is it that the thought of Hiccup—that gentle and vulnerable girl—being dead by the hands of dragons broke her heart?

She had never seen Hiccup as a friend, that much for sure. But she also never seen Hiccup as an adversary like Snotlout did. Sure, she could be annoying when she got in the way of things, but it was hard to dislike such a gentle and kind soul like Hiccup's, even if they had never been closer than acquaintance before. Sure, they talked to each other, but it's only about common stuff. Astrid only came to her when she needed to, and likewise, Hiccup never talked to her more than necessary. Of course, she had never wanted her to be dying or missing however annoying she was, but what she said just now was just plain cruel. Was it just her excuse of wanting to be stronger because it was implied that Hiccup was now dead already? Was it just because of her own regret of not being able to protect and prevent someone from dying?

Astrid turned away and walked towards her house. Whatever it was, she didn't have time to think about useless things that cannot be changed. She had to train herself to become stronger, so that nobody shared the same fate as Hiccup and her mother again.

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Author's Note:

I hate Snotloud. Period.

I have never seen a personality as selfish as he was (I said 'was' because he matured in HTTYD2, but he was just annoying in HTTYD1 and DRAGONS season1) I may not hate him as much I did now, but I swear, every time I rewatch HTTYD1 and first season of Dragons, I was just fuming most of the time. That's part of why I have so much respect for Hiccup. He must be a buddha for putting up with Snotloud's pettiness when I was ready to stab him through my laptop.

Even though I don't like HiccStrid pairing, I don't dislike Astrid. In fact, I like a strong character like her. It is true that Astrid is a good match for Hiccup, but personally, I think they don't have that much chemistry in the beginning. I think it's ridiculous how Dreamworks depicted her; at how fast Astrid switched from being a rival to a lover, not even pausing to give a thought to be a friend first. But that's not her fault. I still like her and I think there should more depth to her character than just being a strong lover of a protagonist.

I like Ruffnut and Tuffnut too. They're just hilarious, but I don't agree that they both always being goofy and cannot be serious. I believe that Ruff and Tuff could be serious when they wanted to be and they acted mischievous to let their friends relax a bit by their antics, even though they always do that at the wrong time. And I also believed that however mischievous they are, they are genuinely good people and never wanted any harm to people they cared about.

Fishlegs, I adore that boy. I believed that he was the only who understood Hiccup the most because he had the same interests and they both also sucks at fighting, and thus it makes me believe that he could become closer than the rest of the gang with Hiccup (in the sense of friendship, of course). That's why I make him the one who instigated them to help search for Hiccup first. He is shy but I believe that he has strong will.

That is all my headcanons about the gang. I'm sorry for the useless rantings. If you made it all the way here, I congratulate you, knave. Please have a virtual cookie. I'm sorry for my tardiness. The vacation was longer than expected, but I could give you countless of reasons. So I can only offer you my apology for being so late. Thank you for reading and you may leave a mark on the box below or click on the review button. If that's too tedious for you, you can just click the favorite or follow button. I will really appreciate it.

 **hanna18** : Thank you for reading my story. I hope this chapter met your expectation.

 **hiccup98** : I'm happy that you enjoyed reading my story. Thank you for reading. :)

 **guest** : I'm sorry to keep you waiting, but here is chapter 4. I hope you enjoyed reading it too.

 **hicca109** : I have no intention of abandoning this story. I frankly did not expect such high acknowledgement for this story that I decided to write on a whim. So I will do my best even though you have to bear with my slow update.

 **Monkey Lover 911** : Thank you for reading this story and I'm glad you're enjoying it. You have to wait for the next chapter to know. ;)

Anyway, thank you for reading, all you beautiful readers, and I'll see you on the next chapter. BBFN.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Cressida Cowell and Dreamworks SKG.

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 **Chapter 5: Dragons**

Hiccup didn't know how long they've been flying, but when she opened up her eyes, it was already daylight, and she saw a magnificent view of a huge castle on a lone island. Not only that. The castle made of stone was built on the foot of a high volcano, with smoke still rising out of its mouth. But that's not what shocked Hiccup to silence; it was the amount of dragons swarming around the castle like it was normal.

When they were flying above the island, Hiccup could easily see that entire population of the island were all dragons. The island's rocky beach filled with dragons flying around, eating, fishing, and socializing. They were all minding their own businesses, like humans would. On the beach cliffs, there were so many holes from which little dragons came out and about. Hiccup immediately realized that these are dragons' nests.

Around the beach there were open forest of fir trees and even further, the terrain opened into a meadow, where dragons of every species prowling around. The Night Fury took her further and higher to a one opening on the side of the volcano, connected to the stone castle.

Hiccup had to cover her ears as the Night Fury she was riding on letting out a piercing shriek across the sky. A few other shrieking answered his call, then a group of variant coloured Nadders came swooping down towards them, led by a blue, yellow, and white scaled Nadder. They swooped down before landing on a flat rock on the side of the mountain. The Night Fury swooped down to land in front of them.

It's true that she liked flying, but Hiccup was grateful to put her foot on solid ground again. There was darkness blanketing the black dragon by her side and Hiccup gasped before stepping to the side, a little bit away from him, and then the young man from before stepped out of it and bowed down to the leader of Nadders.

"I have come home," He spoke in Norse. "Eira."

The blue, yellow, and white scaled Nadder glowed in bright white that makes everyone in that vicinity avert their eyes. When Hiccup peeked out again, the Nadder was already replaced by a beautiful woman with yellow hair in white and blue robe. "Welcome home, My Prince." She greeted back. Hiccup widened her eyes at that greeting before staring at the man dressed in black beside her. He was a prince?!

The man she called as a Prince sighed exasperatedly before shaking his head, "I've told you not to call me that, didn't I?"

The woman smiled playfully, "I'm sorry, Halvar. But that is the protocol within this castle." She smiled again seeing him sighing before her sight found Hiccup who was standing awkwardly. "And this must be the human you've chosen." She spoke again, referring to Hiccup.

Hiccup frowned in confusion when the man spoke again, "Yes. This is Hiccup. She will be living here from now on."

The woman threw him a disapproving look, "Don't tell me you've taken her forcibly from her home."

The man looked visibly offended before pulling Hiccup flush to his side, "I'll have you know, I've been a perfect gentleman and she came here by her own choice." Then he looked down to her (because he had a good twelve inches from his head to hers) and squeezed her shoulders desperately, "Hiccup, told her how good I've been to you during the journey."

Hiccup deadpanned before dislodging his arm from around her shoulders and stared at him defiantly, despite being shorter than him. "First of all, you were definitely not the definition of 'gentleman' when we first met. And second, it's true that I've come here by my own choice, but can you not be so flippant about it?"

The woman chuckled in deep voice, "I like this one. She is full of spirits. She will be good for you, Halvar."

The man pouted at her before sighing in resignation. He put his hand on the small of Hiccup's back and pushed her gently towards the blue-dressed woman. "I will have to entrust her to you for a moment, Eira. I trust you will welcome her with the best hospitality."

The woman smiled a knowing smile before bowing in respect, "But of course, my Prince."

Hiccup looked at the man in confusion, "What? What are you doing?"

"You have to stay inside the castle until I come back. There are some things I need to discuss with other people." The man—Halvar, she concluded—told her with a serious tone. "Eira here will see to everything you need. It's dangerous for humans to loiter around this island without supervision. She will protect you when I am gone."

"But you're—" The man cut her off by turning into a Night Fury again and turned away to take flight.

He turned to the woman one last time, "Tell her everything, Eira."

The blue-dressed woman—Eira, she concluded—bowed again to him in respect and all the Nadders behind her bowed to him alongside her, "As you wish, My Prince." With that finality, the Night Fury took flight into the sky, releasing a piercing shriek as he went.

The woman she now knew as Eira put her arm around her shoulders and tugged gently. "Come with me, dear Hiccup. I will guide you to where you will be staying for today."

Hiccup glanced at her before glancing back at the retreating black figure against the bright backdrop of the sky. The woman noticed her looks, "He will be fine. Halvar is not our prince just because he was born to be so. As is his name, Halvar has the capabilities to defend our land. So rest assured; he is not that easy to be killed."

Her words sent a bit of comfort to her heart as Hiccup smiled gratefully at the woman, "Okay."

The woman put her hand on the small of her back and guided her into the inside of the opening. At her departure, the rest of the Nadders dismissed themselves and scattered away to the sky, away from the castle. The crevice opening was apparently connected to a large and fancy hallway. As Eira led her to where she was supposed to be, she spoke, "I'm sure you are very confused as to what happened in this island. You have many questions." That was a statement, and Hiccup just nodded mutely, confirming her statement.

Eira smiled softly, "Well, to answer all of them, I need to ask your predicament in which you are here. Are you willing to answer, Hiccup?"

Hiccup shrugged, "I guess so. What do you want to know?"

"Well, let's start with why you are willing to go with Halvar."

Hiccup was silent for a moment before answering, "Well, I've bargained him a deal because my village was suffering; I asked him to help stop the dragons from raiding my village and in exchange I will go with him. You see, I am the daughter of the chief there, and nobody wanted me there anyway, so I thought why not do them a favour and disappear completely? That way, they don't have to see Hiccup the Useless anymore, and I don't have to hear anymore complaints about my useless self. Everyone's happy."

Eira stared at her with emotion akin to pity in her golden eyes, "I see. You are very brave with what you did, Hiccup." Hiccup didn't think so, but she didn't comment. She hated to be pitied. "Halvar did for you because he sensed the dragon soul within you."

Hiccup turned to her at that. "What?"

Eira smiled down at her, "Dragon soul. It is what we call a dragon born inside a human body. You are a dragon soul." She explained as Hiccup's jaw slackened. "As dragons, we hold our promises and words as a very important weapon. Words can be used as swords to hurt people," Hiccup understood that one very well, "And also as a chain to hold people down." Eira paused to look at her. "We dragons understand the power of words better than anyone else. That's why always hold true to our words and that's why we also held the utmost importance about names."

"Names?" Hiccup asked.

"Names are words, yes? When named something, you held them with chains that bound them with you. You are called Hiccup, so when someone say Hiccup, don't you feel like turning and asking 'pardon?'" Hiccup couldn't argue there. "Names held powers over an individual. Do it right, and the individual can grow their potential. But do it wrong, and the individual could drown in misery and wrong choices." Why did she feel like Eira was talking about her? "That's why Halvar made that choice. He chose to take you away from you village to our island."

"Speaking of which, what is this island actually?" Hiccup asked.

"It's dragon island. There are more dragon isles other than ours that scattered around the archipelago. But humans with the purpose of finding it will not be able to."

"Why?" Hiccup couldn't help asking.

"We dragons are ancient beings with a dose of concentrated magic stuffed within us. It's a gift from the Gods." Eira then paused a bit. "There was a legend passed between us, dragons, from generation to generation."

"Long ago, before the dragons tread the earth, when the world was still innocent like a new-born baby, the Gods and men lived together in harmony. Men lived on earth, and the Gods lived in Heaven, where no mortals able to tread. The Gods received prayers from men as the source of their powers; in exchange, the Gods nurtured humans and made their wishes come true.

"As the time passed, the human's prayers are no longer pure. Some men began to pray for other people's unhappiness and misfortune. Because of that, unhappiness and misfortune began to spread throughout the earth and men began to want happiness in Heaven. They blamed the Gods for allowing unhappiness and misfortune spread on the earth. That was the start of war between men and Gods. The men refused to pray to Gods anymore and reaching for heaven, what they thought was the source of happiness. For the Gods who no longer received prayers, the source of their powers, they were weakened and the men were winning.

"The Gods must keep humans away from Heaven because no mortals could survive in it. In order to keep the human from heaven, Thor and Freyja created the first race of dragon to defend heaven; they are what you are now called the Night Furies. Then other Gods created four other dragons to help the Night Fury. The dragons helped the Gods keep the humans away from heaven and kept them safe."

Eira then looked at Hiccup who was listening with awed expression on her face. "That's why there is a practice to kill dragons in Viking traditions. Men still believed that the only way to reach heaven is to kill dragons. Dragons are believed to be the guardians of heaven whether they liked it or not." Hiccup nodded mutely, eager to hear the rest of the story.

"The humans then realized that with the dragon's help, the Gods were winning and there were no chance for humans to win this war. They decided to finally end the war, knowing it was pointless and that they have lost so many men. Then the Gods began to quarrel amongst themselves, whether to kill all lives on earth and start anew or to amend things with humans. Odin, for all his fury, wanted to kill all lives on earth and start anew, but Freyja believed that humans can change and all they need is a second chance.

"So Freyja and Odin sent the dragons they had created unto the earth to guard both the humans and heaven. The dragons were given a task; to kill the mortals who reached for the heaven and to guide the humans on to the path of peace. To do that, Freyja and Odin granted the dragons with the ability to mingle amongst the man; they gave the five dragons the ability to become a human."

The corn-haired woman looked at Hiccup who was still listening with rapt attention and smiled softly, "Legends are lessons. They ring with truths." Eira held her hand, "The five dragons who have the ability to turn into humans are the Nightwings, Ivy Needles, Armourscales, Twinborns, and the Burningscales. In your Viking tradition, they are called the Night Furies, Deadly Nadders, Gronkles, Hideous Zipplebacks, and Monstrous Nightmares."

Eira stared at Hiccup with motherly affection, "Do you understand better now, Hiccup?" Hiccup's green eyes twinkled with eager curiosity as she nodded with enthusiasm that made Eira chuckled softly.

"I have a question," Hiccup said before suddenly her stomach growled.

Hiccup blushed while Eira laughed, her laugh bounced over the stone walls like a chime of a bell. "Well, let's discuss your question over breakfast, shall we? I bet you haven't eaten anything since yesterday."

At that, Hiccup was reminded that she indeed hadn't eaten anything since dinner yesterday. So she let herself be guided through the large hallway, to wherever Eira had in mind.

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Not far from where Eira and Hiccup was, the Night Fury known as Halvar swooped down onto a balcony at the edge of a cliff that was connected to a massive meeting room inside the castle. As he landed, people with fancy leather and fur clothing inside the room stood to greet him and bowed on their knees.

"Long live, Crown Prince Halvar."

Darkness blanketed the Night Fury's body before the young man stepped out of it, still wearing the same dark leather and fur outfit. His stance confident and demand attention. "Stand up, everyone." Everyone did. There are at least ten people inside the room, all gathered around a table made of birch wood.

"We are gathered here today to discuss the strategy to attack the Red Queen from the Northern Sea, according to a deal made by my human sacrifice." There were murmurs around the table that he ignored. "I will discuss the details of the deal later, but now the island of Berk is in our protection." He pulled out a map from a desk and opened them on the table. He pulled out a pencil and started to mark down some areas from their island into the north, including the Viking island of Berk. "These are where our protection now spread."

One middle-aged man protested, "But, Sire. Berk is the island of Vikings, the killer of dragons. Doesn't this mean we are now betraying our kind by protecting our enemies?" Some people nodded along with him while the other frowned in disagreement.

"Gentlemen, it doesn't matter if those people are Vikings or priests. I have made a deal with this human and you know as much as I do that we, dragons, do not go back from our words." Halvar answered.

"What about us? What benefit are we going to take from this deal?" Another middle-aged man asked.

"You know we are already at war with the dragon army from the Red Queen." Halvar reminded them, and they went silent. "If we protect these humans, maybe they will help us win this war."

"That is unfortunately impossible, Your Highness." A young man cut Halvar's words. "Every dragon knows that Vikings despise dragons, and we despise them as much as they do us. We are at a standoff with the Vikings; that's why we were at war with the Red Queen's army, Young Prince."

Halvar sighed. "Yes, but if we can make peace with the Vikings—"

"There is no way that'll work. Vikings know no peace." Other man responded.

"That's right. Humans are savages and they know no mercy. Why should we give them one?"

The room began to become too noisy for Halvar's taste, so he slammed his fist on to the table hard enough to make the birch cracked and the room to become quiet. "If you're done arguing, gentlemen, are you ready to hear me out?" He addressed the whole room with a low, dangerous voice.

When no one answered, Halvar straightened and relaxed a bit, "Thank you." He said. "I've told you before that I would share the details of my deal later, but it seems everybody here refused to have this discussion before I do. So, I will tell you." Halvar took a time to compose himself. "This girl I made a deal with is a daughter of a Viking chief." There was a collective gasps around the room. "She sacrificed herself in exchange to safety of her land. The Red Queen's dragon armies are raiding her land and she wanted to put a stop to it without bloodshed."

"That deal is outrageous!" A young man burst. "There is no way a Viking could feel such affection! And there is no way we can defeat Red Queen's army on our own!"

Halvar narrowed his toxic green eyes hearing that last sentence, his pride was stung. "Are you implying that I am unable to live up to my name, Lord Burningscale?" His voice is low and dangerous as he stepped closer towards the man who just said that.

Lord Burningscale, a young man in his late twenties with red blazing hair and golden eyes, widened his eyes when he scented the danger the Young Prince was emitting. "Of course not, Young Prince," he quickly amended. "What I mean is that we cannot fulfil our end of the deal—especially because the one who made the deal is Viking child—"

"She has the soul of a dragon!" Halvar exclaimed in loud voice, cutting whatever Lord Burningscale was going to say. Immediately the room became noisy once again.

"The dragon soul?"

"In a Viking child?"

"I thought it was just a myth!"

"How could that be possible?"

"As you can see, gentlemen," Halvar addressed the whole room in a loud and commanding tone, prompting the whole room to pay attention. "I made this deal with not only a Viking child, but a Viking child who possessed a dragon soul. I believe the matter of the deal is done and I will _not_ take any more objections about this matter. If you had something to say about this, consider all your opinions are rejected. You are all dismissed!"

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Author's Note:

Hello. Morte-tan is here. I am not dead. Don't worry.

Last month was very hectic for me. I was drowning in the sea of tests and assignments, it was horrible. There was not a day passed without a test or two (except Sunday) and it was stressful. I wasn't able to sleep well, I needed to take remedial tests, did assignments from lecturers, study for another tests, study, study, study, and study. I felt like everyday is Monday. There was no rest whatsoever.

I have no intention of abandoning this story. I don't want to. I love Hiccup and Toothless so much. But I don't know; if someday I would really die drowning in my assignment papers, I might not be able to finish this story. So, I'm gonna have to apologize in advance. I'm already stressed with this much exams and assignments thrown in my way; I am ready to die drowning in my assignment papers and trust me, it would not be a peaceful death.

So yeah, I hope this story is enough to redeem my whole month absence and I hope this can satisfy you for awhile. Let's hope the lecturers would give some breaks now that mid-semester is over so that I would have time continuing my story. Thank you for bearing with me.

Don't think that I do not notice the increase of my notification about followers and favorites. Guys, I love you so much. Even when I'm gone and studying myself to death, you still have time to review my shit and following it. I really appreciate it. This is what keeps me going and think, "I cannot fail my readers." So thank you, everyone, whom I cannot mention one by one because there are tons of you guys. To all of you readers, who reviews, who follows, who favorites, or if you just reads in silence, I cannot thank you enough for supporting me and this story. I love you, guys :D

I'll see you in the next chapter. :D


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: idem._

 _Warning: typos. Grammar errors. Female Hiccup. Hybrid Toothless. Hybrid dragons._

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 **Chapter 6: Halvar**

The room Eira had assigned to her was a big one. It has a lot of fancy furniture and decorations that made the room look very royal and elegant. The walls were coated in gold and intricate designs. She didn't know if it was real gold, but it was certainly beautiful and impressive. The curtains were red, trimmed with gold and yellow threads, giving off the royalty aura. The bed was massive—it could easily fit her father, mother, and her together in one bed. That is, if her mother was still alive.

Hiccup's eyes turned sombre at the reminder as she fingered the cotton with which the bed cover was made of. It was lined with flower patterns and it was soft, comfortable, and warm.

She then turned her attention somewhere else. Aside from bed-side table, an elegant writing desk, a bookcase filled with books, and an elegant wooden wardrobe, the room's walls were also lined up with some paintings. They were paintings of dragons of various sizes, shapes, and colours. Some she recognized as a deadly nadder and terrible terrors. Some she didn't recognize, but Hiccup was an artist, and she could recognize arts when she saw one.

Hiccup was admiring the painting of a monstrous nightmare flying above the horizon with sunset as the background when she heard someone knocking at the door.

"Yes?" She called.

The door opened to reveal the young man she now knew as Halvar. According to Eira's explanation, Halvar is the prince of this dragon kingdom and the defender of this land. What a fitting name, she thought. Halvar; defender of the land. "Can I help you?" Hiccup remembered her manners, mainly because she was a guest in this place, and because he was actually a prince.

"I just wanted to make sure if you're okay." Halvar confessed, brushing his hand through his hair. With that vulnerable gesture, he actually looked a bit shy or nervous.

There was warmth bloomed inside her chest at his admission. She didn't know what that was, but the feeling wasn't unpleasant. "I'm fine. You don't have to keep checking on me every few hours, you know."

The young man nodded and leaned on the wall beside the door. He kept the door open, Hiccup noticed. "Have you eaten yet?" He asked. Hiccup nodded her respond. "Did Eira give you a tour around?" He asked again. At that, Hiccup shook her head and Halvar beamed. "Do you want one?"

Hiccup pondered her answer. She could deny him and have some rest instead, but she has been doing nothing but admiring the room for the last half hour. Besides, she thought as she looked up at Halvar's beaming face; how could anyone say no to that happy puppy face?

"Okay."

Halvar beamed brighter.

"I won't give you the whole castle tour. It's tiring and even I have never been to a few parts of this castle by myself. I've gotten lost in this castle once, you know." Halvar grinned as he led Hiccup to a staircase. "I'll show you my favourite parts of this kingdom." He smiled at her and offered a hand, just like when they first met. His smile was so genuine and his toxic green eyes were so soft that Hiccup had to look away in order not to blush.

She nodded silently as she took his hand and let him lead the way to wherever he had in mind.

"Where are we going?" Hiccup asked.

The young man just grinned mischievously, "You'll see."

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Apparently the first room he showed her was the kitchen. It was massive—even wider than the room she was staying in. People with various hair colours and eye colours worked in front of stoves, stirring a pot, chopping ingredients, checking the oven, yelling to someone else; the atmosphere really felt busy, like she was somewhere else entirely. Even the temperature was higher than outside, but she supposed it was because of the fires.

"Even if we're dragons, our human bodies cannot digest raw food." Halvar explained to her. "This place will always be busy, so whenever I feel hungry, I always mooch off from this place." He grinned innocently while Hiccup just shook her head at that.

"Yes, you are always sneaky like that, Young Prince." A slightly chubby woman who looked slightly older than Halvar with greenish brown hair and yellow eyes put her hands on her hips, eyeing Halvar with reproaching tone, but amused look.

The young prince just laughed sheepishly. Then he brought Hiccup closer to her and proceeded to introduce them, "Miss Dusty, this is Hiccup. Hiccup, this is Miss Dusty, the head of the kitchen. Basically, even though I'm the prince, in this kitchen she is the Queen."

The chubby woman called Dusty now definitely looking at him with amused look. "That is indeed true, but that never stopped you from stealing dessert before dinner every time." Halvar just laughed innocently.

Then the woman turned to Hiccup. Her yellow eyes scrutinized her small form before asking, "Are you the rumoured human who gave herself to Young Prince?"

Hiccup blushed. When she said it like that, that almost sounded like she gave herself off to be married by the dummy-head behind her. "W-well, that's—that's not wrong, but… I'm—" Her next stuttering answer was cut by a large hand patting her head from behind.

"She is, but it's not like what everybody is thinking. She's just here for some time until we defeat the Red Queen's army." Halvar's certain and strong voice answered for her that she can't help looking up at him. "Until then, she will stay here as a guest." There was a smile pasted on his face, but that looked a bit fake to her.

The chubby woman frowned and pouted at him, "That's a shame. Here I thought you would finally settle down and have someone who is able to put you in your place—but I guess we can't have everything in life." She shrugged, and both Halvar and Hiccup blushed simultaneously.

"She's too young." Halvar rolled his eyes, still with a blush on his face. "Wait another three years before you say that, please."

Hiccup blushed harder at Halvar's respond, "I am still here, you know."

The woman laughed cheerily. "You two are so funny! Well, whatever makes both of you happy, dearie. Now off you go, I still have pastries to bake." She sang as she made shooing motions to both of them, indicating that they should go away from the kitchen and stop distracting her from her work.

It was a bit awkward after that. They were walking side by side with an uncomfortable silence.

"Sorry about earlier," Halvar suddenly broke the silence. "I know you feel uncomfortable with the whole sacrificing-yourself thing, so, sorry if she offended you in some way. We could stop if you want to."

Hiccup briefly thought that he was so thoughtful if he even thought that Hiccup wouldn't want to continue the tour. She smiled softly and shook her head politely, "It's okay. It was a bit awkward earlier, but she didn't offend me or anything. Besides, I want to see this kingdom from up close. Everything looks very interesting."

Halvar smiled back at her, "Thanks. I'm glad you're different."

Hiccup looked up at him in confusion, "What do you mean?"

The black haired young man ran his hand through his hair. "I was at a meeting earlier, talking about our agreement." He started. Hiccup listened. "Everyone refused to acknowledge you because you're a human, a Viking child to boot. The race thing is very sensitive around here. I hope you don't mind."

Hiccup shrugged. "I'm used to it. You don't have to worry about me." She missed the sad look sent her way from the young prince.

"Alright, let's take a look around the kingdom once again from the ground, shall we?" Hiccup looked up again when Halvar energetically cheered.

Hiccup giggled quietly. "Sure. Where do you have in mind?"

"Let's go to the courtyard first. You'll like it." He said with conviction as he led Hiccup to the front.

It was a huge garden with a white pavilion in the middle. The garden was very beautiful and looked nicely maintained. The flower bushes were beautifully trimmed and the lush green grass looked like a carpet that had never been stepped on before. There were lilies, roses, azaleas, and forget-me-nots. There were some magnolia trees in bloom located so strategically, surrounding the white pavilion. Butterflies with various colours and patterns were dancing around the flowers. It was very peaceful and colourful; it was nice here.

Halvar brought her to the pavilion. "This is my favourite place here in the castle," he said, fingering the smooth white surface of the wooden bench. "I used to play here with my mother when I was still a hatchling."

Hiccup smiled at the soft look the night fury had when he was talking about his mother. "I bet she was very nice," Hiccup commented politely as she looked around the pavilion. It was wide enough for her whole family to have dinner together. Not that it had ever happened. She didn't even remember her mother's face—she had died when she was still in a crib.

The young prince's face lit up with a fond smile as he remembered his mother. "Yeah, she was very kind and very wise—always understanding and never raised her voice to anyone. Always willing to listen—that's the kind of dragon she is." Then his eyes dimmed and his smile turned wistful, "She died a long time ago, though."

The auburn haired girl turned a sympathetic look to him—she knew well how that felt. "How did she die?"

Halvar shrugged lightly, "She died protecting me in a war." He answered, not wanting to explain more for now. "Actually, both my parents died in that war. I escaped and took over the throne for them. They wouldn't want the kingdom they've built from scratch to perish because they died, so I protected this land. I still am."

Hiccup stared at the young prince who stared at the rose bushes in a trance. He looked so young, but he bore so many burdens under that shoulder. She was the child of a Viking chief, yes. So more or less, she knew the pressure of being the one who would someday take over their parent's position. But she never knew anything about being a prince or a princess, or a king or a queen—never mind ruling a kingdom. Her small village had not been easy to watch, let alone such a huge island of a kingdom, with larger population and more complicated structures.

The young prince was too far in his mind that he was a bit startled when he felt the girl's hand over his, "I'm sorry for your loss." She muttered in grief, as if she knew how it felt to lose someone.

Halvar's green eyes widened then softened. He reached up to brush his hand through her auburn hair. "You lost your mother too, didn't you?"

Hiccup was a bit startled that he knew, but then she remembered that he stalked her for three days before he brought her here. She frowned without heat in it, "You gathered that information from stalking?" she asked, but he just grinned mischievously. She sighed then and his grin faded. "She died when I was still a baby. I don't even remember her face."

At that, Halvar frowned in grief. It's a different story; at least on his part, he was able to know and memorize his mother and being happy and remember the moments of being with his mother as precious memories. But Hiccup? She was unable to remember her mother because she had died too early. Hiccup had never even known her mother's face, or her voice, or her scent—she had never experienced joyous times with her mother and would never had a memory of a mother. Some would say it was better that way, because the child wouldn't be able to grief when they couldn't remember. But he didn't think so. He was sure that she felt pain, because when everyone else got the joy of being with their mother, Hiccup didn't. And that, Halvar thought, was even worse than seeing your mother die.

Because for Halvar, the feeling of grief is better than the feeling of emptiness.

Hiccup gasped when a pair of strong hands encircled her body and her face was pressed on to a clothed, warm chest. It took a moment for her brain to realize that she was being hugged. Her face reddened. She was being hugged!

"You are such a strong girl, Hiccup." She heard Halvar's voice rumbling through his chest. "It's okay; everything will get better for you. I will make sure of it."

Sudden warmth bloomed within her chest up on to her face. She didn't remember the last time she was being hugged. Maybe it was her father, maybe it was Gobber; maybe she initiated it, maybe it was them—she wasn't too sure. But either way, being hugged is not unpleasant, she decided as she snuggled further into Halvar's warmth, surrounding her like a protective blanket.

Then a thought crossed her brain; she doesn't mind cutting the tour short if they can be like this for a little longer.

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Halvar was supposed to be busy; there was so much to plan, so much to look forward to. But here he was, ignoring the paperwork, strategies, and maps surrounding his desk while looking over the window. The sky was a mix of colours between pink, purple, and orange. The sun casted golden rays upon the sea, making it seemed like glittering diamonds on the horizon. Birds and dragons alike were coming back home to rest their wings and be with their families.

He was so deep inside his mind. He thought back to his moment with Hiccup back in the courtyard. She was very much an interesting girl. She was unlike any other humans he had encountered. Putting aside the fact that she had a soul of a dragon, she was very wise and intelligent for her age. Perhaps it had something to do with her losing her mother, practically abandoned by her father, and being an outcast in her village. She had suffered enough, Halvar decided. He would make sure that she would never have to suffer like that again.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard feminine footsteps. When he looked up to his door, he saw Eira in her human form. Her blue eyes hard, but her face was carefully neutral. "I need to talk to you, Halvar."

"What is it?" He was already up and approaching the female dragon, anticipating the worst.

"Walk with me."

She didn't say anything else other than that. She immediately pivoted elegantly on her heel and walked down the hallway. Confused, but intrigued, Halvar jogged lightly to follow her and match her pace. If she had time to ask him to walk with her, then it was private and not urgent. "What's this all about?"

"The Royal Families are disputing over the recent meeting you just conducted." She informed him quietly. Halvar immediately frowned hearing that news. "They are disappointed by your decision of making agreement with the Viking child. Many of them don't care if she has a dragon soul or not."

"I thought I've told them that their opinions are rejected."

At this, Eira stopped and glared at him so furiously that he had to stop himself from flinching and took a step back. "I thought you are better than that, Halvar. As the Young Prince, it is your duty to maintain peace over this kingdom and protect it—not fanning a fire on disputes that would surely be a time-bomb."

Halvar frowned in offense, "I know how to do my job."

"Clearly you didn't, because you've already misused your power in order to press the Royal Families to do what you want." At these words, Halvar's eyes widened and he realized how deep in trouble he was. "You made two mistakes already; first, you clearly didn't tell any of the royal families about your agreement with the human child. And second, you pushed all the responsibilities you're supposed to be bear from your agreement with the human child onto the Royal Families' hands."

Eira glared harder and her voice got higher, "Do you even understand how these irresponsible actions you did will affect our kingdom? The Royal Families could cut their alliance with us—at worst, they could declare a war."

As Halvar kept quiet and looked down, Eira took a deep breath to calm herself. She supposed he had learned his faults and had decency to look guilty. "Lord Burningscale came to me earlier," She stated with a much calmer air and more neutral voice. At that, he looked up at her. "He wished to propose something to you regarding the human child. He came to me because he knew you would turn him down without listening to him. I am here to persuade you to at least listen."

Halvar frowned like a petulant child. Eira frowned lightly at the childishness he showed but she pressed on. "It is not a mistake to bring that human child here. And you were not wrong about her possessed a dragon soul. But it is a mistake to made an agreement with her out of the blue without telling anyone and then pushed the responsibility to everyone else and expect them to work. You understand at least that much, right? Halvar."

The scolded young prince sighed and looked at anywhere but Eira's eyes. "Fine. I'll listen what he has to say."

Eira smiled a motherly smile. Even though dragons could outlive humans by thousands of years, Halvar still a bit young according to dragon's standard to be a ruler and too rash and impulsive in making decisions. But he had his heart in the right place, like the previous rulers before him hundreds of years ago. He would learn, and he would become wiser. Unlike the reigning Red Queen who ruled the Northern Sky since three hundred years ago, with which they had a feud in order to free the dragons under her rule from slavery.

"Follow me, then." Eira once again pivoted gracefully on her heel and led the young prince to a drawing room, before leaving him alone with Lord Burningscale.

Lord Colborn Burningscale is a monstrous nightmare dragon. In his human form, he looked not too far different from any other human. He looked just slightly bit younger than the prince, with red blazing hair and twin horns peeking between his wild hair. Like the most dragon-human population, he supported a pair of golden eyes with slit pupils. He wore a nice coat made of grey wolf skin and brown reddish trousers made of bear skin, with three swords of different length tied on his left side.

He bowed politely when he saw the prince enter the room, "Your Highness."

Halvar had already frowned with displease, impatience, and bad mood from earlier scolding. "Just state your business and let's get this over with."

Lord Burningscale nodded and dropped his formal stance. "I'd like to propose a bet," He stated without missing a beat.

"Explain," The young prince frowned in thought.

"My predecessors and other elder heads in Royal Families don't agree with your rash decision in making agreement with the unknown human Viking child. They still thought that the human child would turn on us—and personally, so do I. Please excuse my boldness." The young monstrous nightmare explained with formal and polite tone—all business like, so Halvar just nodded his head and motioned for him to continue. "But some others believe that this human child could be different and could be the key of peace to this war. So as you can see, we are at disputes." Nothing that Halvar doesn't know, he thought impatiently. "So that's why I came up with the idea; why not put her here, make her stay in this kingdom, integrate her into our culture for a few months?"

Halvar could feel his eyes widened as he pondered the suggestion. That could work. Make Hiccup mingle between the dragons, make her learn their cultures and traditions, make her learn the dragon ways, and let her dragon soul surfaced—while in the meantime, it could serve as a waiting time for the elders to see if she would betray them and showed her true Viking heritage by denying and hurting the dragons. It's perfect. It could serve as a trial period. Halvar personally could never picture Hiccup hurting or even talk bad about dragons—or anything at all.

"The elders are betting that she would show her blood heritage as a Viking and ran away in a few weeks to tell the truth about the dragons. If that happens, the elders would hunt her down and kill her." Lord Burningscale's words brought Halvar back from his musings. "What do you think, My Lord?"

Halvar hummed, intrigued. "What if I say that she will pass the trial period?"

"Then it means our bet is in place, My Lord." Lord Burningscale stated coolly. For a monstrous nightmare, he was really chill.

The young prince then grinned mischievously. Lord Burningscale felt shiver down his spine seeing that smile across the prince's face. "Very well. You have a wonderful proposal. We will have another meeting tomorrow—we can discuss it with the Heads of Royal Families there. We can also discuss the details for the bet at the meeting."

Lord Burningscale looked like he had his burdens lifted off of him as he bowed down at him. "Thank you, Your Highness."

"I personally think that this idea of yours could really work. I can't wait for the meeting tomorrow." The young prince added just before he dismissed the young lord. Lord Burningscale just bowed politely at him before turning and leaving the room.

Halvar grinned cheerfully—his mood from earlier lifted with the solution in front of his hands. All he had to do now is convince the elders about the bet. Halvar is confident that Hiccup would not disappoint him.

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 **Author's note:**

Yes, I know. I'm sorry for the long wait. I had final examinations this week, but it was finally over, and I was able to write this along with my other project. Thank you for waiting so long. I hope this story could satisfy your curiosity for awhile. All that I think about while writing this is you guys, who I imagined, are waiting so impatiently and I know how the feeling of worry when your favorite story haven't updated for so long, so I pushed forward for you guys, and now we have a new plot going on. Thank you for bearing the wait with me.

 **The SkrillRider** : No, Hiccup will not turn into a dragon, because I think she is perfect as she is now. Thank you for reviewing :)

 **Monkey lover 911** : Thank you for reading and reviewing. You have to follow the story to know ;)

 **AquaJinx** : Thank you, it was based from Vocaloid's song called Mistletoe of the Soul. You can check it out if you're interested.

 **Guest** : sometimes, I do careful scan of my work before uploading it. But other times, I read it so many times that I was bored of it and just click upload. I do apologize if the typos or grammar errors bothered you while reading. I will scan them more carefully next time. And thank you for your kind words, for reading, and reviewing. It means a lot to me.

Thank you, everyone who had reviewed and clicked follow and favorite. My God, this story has more than 138 followers already, and this is still the sixth chapter. My notification was exploding. Thank you for your support, everyone. If you have questions about this story, you can just throw it through the review box and I will try my best to reply them. You are really kind people. I hope you have a beautiful day and I will see you in the next chapter. Bye :D


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: idem.

Warning: typos. Grammar errors. Sudden unintentional shifting between past and present tenses. False punctuation. Misused of capital letters. OOC-ness.

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 **Chapter 7: Winter**

It was six weeks, almost two months after Hiccup's disappearance. The first snow already fell down. Winter came earlier than expected.

After the last dragon raid, many houses were destroyed, including Gobber's smithy. They had worked together to repair the damage and fortunately everything was done before the first snow fell. But now their resources were dwindling. Food was scarce because they couldn't go out fishing. They had to depend on the hens and yaks for eggs and milk. But Vikings needed meat too.

Gobber brought down a doe from his shoulder on to the snow. It has heavy with nutritious meat and fresh scent of blood. It would be sufficient to feed at least a dozen adult Vikings. "How are you doing back there, Stoick?"

To his back was Stoick, shouldering a big boar, bigger than Gobber's doe. "Fine," He answered Gobber's inquiry. He then looked back to the snowy woods; he seemed reluctant to leave the forest.

"We'll go out again tomorrow night, Stoick." Gobber reassured him. "I'm sure the lass is still out there somewhere."

Stoick frowned in sadness, "You're probably right, Gobber." He reluctantly followed Gobber back to the village.

After three days of rallying the villagers for search parties, they grew tired of it and considered Hiccup dead. Stoick knew this. He gave up trying to make the villagers help him find Hiccup. Instead, he and Gobber went out to the woods every night to search for her, and every night they would be back without her, but with plenty of meat for winter supplies. It fed the village and it kept Stoick at ease, so they kept hunting during night time.

They both carried on to the supply room, near the great hall. Three women were there, filling fresh snows and ice into a crate where they saved yesterday's meat. One of the women approached to greet them. "Welcome back, Stoick, Gobber. It seems you were quite lucky with the hunt tonight."

Stoick nodded wordlessly and put the night's prizes into a crate. "These should be sufficient for at least two days. I'm counting on you." The women nodded at his words and they both turned to the great hall to find something to eat.

As the two men departed, the women started to whisper amongst each other. "Poor, chief Stoick. He'd lost his wife, now his daughter is dead too. I don't want to imagine what he's going through right now."

"Right. He's always trying so hard. Being a single father and chief is not easy. What was Hiccup thinking, just up and left her father like that?"

"It's not Hiccup's fault. It was the dragons! She shared the same fate as her mother before her. Didn't you hear the rumours? They found the remnants of her shoes and her tattered bloodied tunic in the forest. There were signs of monstrous nightmare nearby. She was either taken by the dragon like her mother or eaten on the spot!"

"Don't speak too loud! The chief could hear you."

"But don't you think for a grieving father, he looked much too nonchalant for you?"

"What do you mean? It's obvious that he's losing weight."

"I mean he never declared openly that Hiccup is dead. He never declared a new heir for his position as chief. He also never threw a funeral ceremony for her. Isn't that supposed to be tradition?"

"Maybe because they found no body to be cremated; that's why he never threw a funeral."

"Or maybe he's just in denial. Didn't you hear that he sometimes speaks about Hiccup as if she was still alive?"

Some women gasped. "Really? Oh, Thor, that is awful. I really feel bad for him."

"I think he's just in denial. I mean, his wife had died and he practically raised his daughter alone. He might regret not spending much time with her and treated her as if she was still alive."

"Oh, poor man. He should just declare her death, threw a funeral, and moving on. It's painful for him if he keeps going on like this."

"Ladies. What are you gossiping about?"

At the new voice, the ladies gasped and turned red in embarrassment. "Spitelout!" "We didn't see you there!" "Nothing in particular."

The polite smile Spitelout threw told them that he didn't believe that in the slightest. "Anyway, I was looking for Stoick. Did you see him around?"

"Oh, yes. He was with Gobber in the Great Hall."

"Thanks." Spitelout waved them goodbye and turned to the great hall.

As soon as they couldn't see his back anymore, the ladies began to whisper, "I wonder how much he had heard."

"He wouldn't report this to Stoick, would he?"

"He's just as arrogant as his son."

"No, I say his son got that from him."

"If Spitelout's son became chief, we would no doubt be in wars with other clans. We would perish!"

"I almost wished Hiccup was still alive. At least I know for sure _she_ wouldn't lead us to war!"

"Dagur is bad enough. With Spitelout's son as the heir, I have no doubt we would have a war with Oswald's son."

"I hope Stoick doesn't make Spitelout's son as the heir."

"But with Hiccup gone, the only choice would be him."

"What about Astrid? She is more than capable to lead this village."

"But she is not from Stoick's bloodline."

"He treats her as such nowadays—even more than he did his own daughter."

.

.

.

"Good evening, Stoick, Gobber." Spitelout stepped beside their table. Stoick and Gobber looked up at him and nodded in acknowledgement.

Gobber had never liked Spitelout before, even before he knew Stoick. He was too arrogant and too cowardice for all their sakes. Even more so after he had heard despicable ideas he had spread about his apprentice. He had ideas about sending human sacrifice to the Gods to stop dragon raids, and he had ideas that the perfect sacrifice would be Hiccup. Fortunately no one had agreed to something as repulsive as human sacrifice. It only remained as rumours and he had no intention to tell that to Stoick.

So he stood up gracelessly, pulling up his pants and bid his farewell. "Well, that was a good night, Stoick. I'm off to bed. Tell me if you have any other plans for tomorrow, would you?" Stoick grunted his reply and acknowledgment as Gobber left the building.

The dislike notion was mutual; Spitelout also had never liked Gobber. The man had never appreciated or shared his tastes in a good fight, wine, or women. For far-sighted Spitelout who always thought about himself and his family's reputation, Gobber's whimsical way of living never sat well with him. Even more so when he had taken the tiny weakling Hiccup as an apprentice. In his opinion, a leader should be strong and ambitious, like himself or his son, not a weakling like Stoick's daughter. But Gobber always had the delusion that Hiccup could lead better than Snotlout. He snorted quietly; as if. Hiccup couldn't even win a fight one on one against his son. He always found himself arguing with Gobber about whom would make better leader. So he was relieved when he was gone. Of course, he was not so stupid to admit this to Stoick. He knew that Gobber was Stoick's most trusted friend, even more so than himself—and Spitelout was his brother.

He then sat down at the chair Gobber had vacated. "Sorry to bother you this late, Stoick."

Stoick nodded. "What is it, Spitelout?"

"I overheard the birds talking," He started. "Why haven't you declare your daughter's death already?"

Stoick's eyes hardened. "Is that how much you wanted her death, Spitelout? If there weren't any signs of dragons near where we found Hiccup's tunic, I would've thought that you were the one who killed her."

Spitelout raised his hands in surrender, "I never said that, Stoick."

"But you implied it."

Spitelout sighed. "I just wanted to talk to you about the matter of heir."

"What of it?"

"Don't you think Snotlout is more than capable to lead Berk, Stoick?"

At that, Stoick sighed in exasperation. "No, Spitelout. We've had this talk before. He is selfish and difficult to cooperate with others. He still has so much to learn before we could dream of having him as the heir."

Spitelout frowned in disagreement. "Well, he's grown now than the last time we had this talk. I'm sure with the right education, you can teach him on how to be a great leader. You have to agree that he does have the charisma and capabilities as a leader."

"Yes, but leadership without brain means doom for Berk."

Spitelout's widened and he hit the table in anger. "How dare you say that about my son?!"

Stoick frowned. "I am merely stating the facts; just like you always did when you criticized my daughter's weaknesses as an heir. And you've never heard me complaining about it, because it's true."

"Your daughter was another story! She didn't have the capabilities to become a leader and she was too weak to even be called Viking!"

"Physical strength can be trained and she _can_ and _will_ become stronger. Besides, she is far too young to be talking about succeeding my position. Even with apparent physical weakness, you have to admit that she has better brains than your son. I'll have you know that she started blacksmithing with Gobber since she was five years old, and she is also the one who built our catapults."

"Odin's beard, wake up, Stoick! The only heir you'll have for now on is Snotlout! Hiccup is dead!"

Stoick moved so fast that Spitelout didn't see him. The table moved in front of his eyes and there was a large crack and a heavy blow to his face. When his brain could process again, he was on the ground, his nose was hurting and bleeding. It was probably broken. The table was already broken in splinters everywhere around him. Stoick was looming over him like an angry bear, his shadow casted fiercely by the torches in the room. There were only one or two Vikings left when he came, but now he was sure there were more of them watching.

"Hiccup is not dead. She is still alive. I can feel it in my bones."

His voice was soft, deep, hoarse, and dangerous. Spitelout was sure if he were to say a word, there would be more of his bones broken than just his nose.

"Take this as a warning, Spitelout. If I ever hear you say again that she is dead, I will personally consider you as her murderer and treat you as such." Spitelout's eyes widened in fear. "She is still alive somewhere; if not on Berk, then somewhere on this earth. And I will find her no matter what happen. Because that is my job as a father that I've been neglected."

.

.

Gobber went back to the forge, feeling empty when he found it dark and cold. Broken weapons were stacked into a corner of a table haphazardly, waiting to be sorted and repaired. Without the fireplace going and the only dim light coming from outside, he began to realize that the only colour in this place is grey. It was strange; Gobber had never noticed it before. It was even more prominent now that Hiccup is gone.

Now he always returned to the cold and empty smithy. With the snow coming, works came slow to him, and he found himself seeking Stoick's company more often than not. Stoick still trusted him to train youngsters to fight dragons and they were always hunting together at night. So the smithy always left unattended. He was left feeling strangely empty now that he always returned from a long, exhausting day at the training to the dark smithy, cold fireplace, the mess of old ashes around the fireplace, and stacks of cold weapons left unorganized on the table.

Hiccup was the one who did the small things; small things that he had taken for granted before and now looked gigantic before his eyes. She was always the first one who lit up the fireplace in the mornings when the sky was still dark and the cold mist still visible; that was the sole reason Gobber had never came to cold and dark smithy before. She was the one waking the villagers in the morning with her pound of hammer on steel, the one who kept the fireplace warm and glowing, fetching their lunches, snacks, and dinners, turning on the oil lamps when the sun began to set. She was always the one leaving the latest between the two of them when the night was late enough to retire. She spent late nights sorting through the broken weapons, cleaning the equipment they've used, turning off the fireplace, sweeping away ashes and keeping the fireplace clean…

He felt tears started to well up in his eyes and he harshly brushed them off. It wouldn't do if he cried now, because he believed that Hiccup is still alive. And so is Stoick. Hiccup was still alive; if not on this island, then somewhere on this earth. She was not in Valhalla yet. She was just… taking a little vacation is all. Yes, it felt better to think like that; like she was just going for a vacation for a few months and expecting her to be back, even if they didn't know when that will happen. So he gathered himself together and stepped to the fireplace to get it going. It was not easy; the temperature was too low and the firewood was too damp, but he managed a small fire.

Maintaining a careful eye for the small fire to not let it die off, he began to sort through the broken weapons and decided to start on the easiest for now; the shields. It wasn't entirely made of steel, so he could finish some works while waiting for the fireplace to be hot enough to work on the swords later.

As he worked, he lamented the lack of Hiccup's chattering in the background. Despite his liveliness, he was not the type to chatter when he was seriously focused on his works. Hiccup was the one usually filling in the silence with her curiosity and lively chatters. She had a habit of looking over his shoulder when he was working on something new. He usually found this annoying because she would suddenly poked her head into his line of vision and hindered him from the work, but right now he would do anything for her to suddenly popped into his vision—no matter how much work she would cause him later.

Some villagers saw him worked as they passed over his the smithy.

"He is working again?"

"Don't you think it was enough with only him alone and without Hiccup?"

"He's always an oddball, aside from Hiccup that is."

"He doesn't look too bothered even without his apprentice."

"Isn't awful that he and the chief aren't grieving when Hiccup is already died?"

Gobber frowned. He heard everything. " _At least Stoick and I keep looking for her, ungrateful bastards the lot of 'em_ ," he thought to himself. How dare those villagers who had never even treated Hiccup right, now suddenly judged him and Stoick for their belief that Hiccup was still alive and not grieving. He supposed Vikings would always be judgemental idiots. He knew it; he'd experienced it. Even before Hiccup was born, before he met Stoick and Valka, he had been labelled as an oddball. He had accepted his fate; as long as he was not disturbed and he could be of use to the community. Being friends with the chief had its perks, namely not being openly ostracized. So he was sure that he's the only one who was able to understand Hiccup.

Hiccup had always been the odd one. She was born too early and she was too tiny. Valka had worried that she wouldn't survive, but Stoick had believed in her. Stoick believed that Hiccup was strong and he was right. Hiccup survived. Even until now, when her fate was uncertain and claimed dead by people on Berk, Stoick still believed in her. Stoick still believed that Hiccup had survived and was still alive somewhere on this earth.

"Gobber, are you busy?"

The moustached man was interrupted from his musings by a familiar voice. He looked over and saw the almost round figure of Fishlegs. "Hello, Legs. Are you here to borrow Hiccup's books again?" he greeted. After Hiccup's disappearance, the chubby boy visited the smithy more often now. He was usually more interested by the books that Hiccup left. Gobber insisted on building back Hiccup's small room when they rebuilding the smithy and he kept what's left of Hiccup's books inside it. And Fishlegs, being the curious boy he was, had been interested in them. He'd claimed that Hiccup had the most interesting tastes in books, even more interesting than the village's library. Gobber himself had never been there, but he had a feeling that Fishlegs had been confining himself in the library these days.

"Yes, if you don't mind me there." Fishlegs was still the timid boy he usually was, but now he had the air of determination around him. Gobber couldn't exactly name it, but they boy had certainly changed. "I can help around too, if you don't mind. I'm not as skilled as Hiccup, but I can clean or something."

Gobber's eyes softened and he motioned the boy to come inside. "Sure, lad. It's kinda lonely here without Hiccup's voice." Fishlegs' eyes turned conflicted when he mentioned Hiccup's name, but he obeyed and came inside. "As usual, you can take whatever you need in Hiccup's room. Just don't break anything."

"Sure, Gobber." The boy opened the worn, orange fabric before he looked up and down Hiccup's bookcase. Gobber noticed that he kept the fabric open. He took a few books and came back out, closing the fabric back. "Is there anything you need help cleaning?" He asked.

Gobber pointed at the broom by the corner of the room. "The ashes need to be cleaned. They're been here for at least a week." Fishlegs openly grimaced at that before he hurriedly grab the broom and sweeping the ashes around the fireplace.

They worked together in silence before Gobber spoke, "You're not much of a talker, are you, kid?"

Fishlegs looked up at him for a moment, "Well, no. No one ever took me seriously anyway."

"'Cept Hiccup, tho'." Gobber smiled.

Fishlegs also smiled, "Except Hiccup."

"Unlike most of us, she's never taken anyone for granted." Said Gobber.

There was a mournful silence save for the sound of his hammer and Fishleg's broom. Despite whatever he thought to save himself from grieving Hiccup's disappearance, her absence inevitably left a big hole in Gobber's life. Mourning was natural for him to do when she was gone, despite how many times he'd told himself that Hiccup hadn't died yet.

"How are you coping, Gobber?" Fishlegs asked carefully.

Gobber didn't look up from his work. "What do you mean, kid?"

"I mean, with Hiccup's… disappearance." Fishlegs was obviously didn't want to say the word 'death', and quickly replaced it with 'disappear' instead—not that it was comforting.

Gobber contemplated his answer. Obviously he was not happy, but he felt more emptiness and loneliness rather than sadness. But he wasn't sure if he should open his heart yet to the boy who had only recently noticed Hiccup because of her disappearance. "I'm okay." Fishlegs frowned, knowing that it was a lie, but didn't question him further. "What about you?"

"It was weird," The chubby boy answered carefully. "At first I was feeling very guilty. I mean, I've never hurt Hiccup—I don't think I ever could, but at the same time, I was thinking about what would become of her if I have the courage to actually stand up to her." He frowned distantly.

"If I stood up by her, would she stay? Would she still be here now? Would Snotlout stop bullying her if I did? I imagined I would've just become another bullied victim together with Hiccup. But would that be better for her, to have someone by her side? Or would it just made her feel guilty? Because Hiccup was that kind of girl, you know? She always took the blame for herself and took responsibilities on her own shoulders. Even though we all know how small her shoulders were."

Fishlegs stopped rambling and there mournful silence was back. Each was lost in their own thoughts.

"I want to be like her one day." Gobber looked up to the boy at that. "I want to have her strong determination, that sense of obligation and responsibilities she had. She had always been different, but she was never afraid of showing that. She was smaller than the rest of us—people never even called her a proper Viking, yet she was always the first one to wake up in the morning, helping the women grew crops, keeping herself updated on the inventories of food, cooking for both breakfast and lunches in the great hall kitchen,…" he trailed off, not because of grieving, but simply because what she did was too much for Fishlegs to mention one by one. "I think she was more of a Viking than the rest of us."

Gobber smiled at that, humming his agreement. His repeated motions over the shield were now filled with ease.

"I envied her, you know?" Gobber stole a glance at the wistful smile the boy sported. "She handled being different so well. I knew as well as her that I was also an oddball, struggling to fit in, when in reality I was just wanted to be like her. She put up with the bullying and did whatever she liked; painting, reading, inventing, daydreaming, even exploring the woods; the things that no normal Vikings would do. I wish I have the strength she had, to be able to do the things I like and enjoy them even when I'm being judged for it."

The man's eyes softened. "You do now, don't you?" Fishlegs looked up at Gobber who didn't look up from his work. "You're dedicated your time reading the books in the library and even preserved Hiccup's books. You're looking and absorb every bit of knowledge around you, just like Hiccup did and I know she would've if she's still here now. I don't think that is a bad thing. It showed that our ancestors' journals weren't going to be a waste of time now."

Gobber's respond made Fishlegs smiled and he returned to sweeping, even when there was nothing to be cleaned now.

"I stopped hanging out with the others." That news made Gobber rather surprised. He had never thought Fishlegs had it in him to refuse Snotlout's orders. "Not just me, though. I heard Ruffnut and Tuffnut are also distant with each other."

Now that news was a shock to him. Gobber knew better than anyone that the twins had never been separated from each other. Honestly, he was curious. "What happened to them? I know Tuffnut always shows up in training—I'm the teaching instructor, so I know he never skipped classes. He is getting stronger—not as strong as Astrid, but he's getting there. About Ruffnut, I only hear she was training under Grandmother Gothi, but that was it."

Fishlegs frowned. "We were in disagreement. They were in denial, I think." He didn't look up. The floor was spotless now, but Fishlegs didn't stop sweeping. "You know, the night when Hiccup disappear, I was the one who suggested us to help the others search for her. And believe it or not, Ruffnut was the first one amongst us who agreed. Snotlout refused to look, as predicted, but I didn't believe it when Astrid also refused to come with us."

"So it was just me and the twins going into the woods that night, to help the others find Hiccup. We were the first ones who found the scorch marks belonged to a monstrous nightmare and we followed the trail. When we got to the scene, there was so many fresh burnt marks—a monstrous nightmare was definitely there only recently—but we didn't find Hiccup. I didn't expect us to find Hiccup's bloodied tunics. We instantly assumed the worst after that. We were stunned to silence even after the others found us and the chief personally retrieved what was left of Hiccup's belongings."

"On the way home, the first one to crack was Tuffnut. He was screaming and blaming Ruffnut for Hiccup's death. Ruffnut, who was obviously blaming herself, crumbled after Tuffnut's accusations. She ran ahead of us and after that I barely heard from her again, until the news about her training to be a herbalist under Elder Gothi. People said that the Elder choose her because her parents are skilled herbalists too. But I personally think it was because Ruffnut thought she could replace Hiccup, at least for Elder Gothi. We all knew how close Hiccup was with the Elder and she doesn't have any heir. It was obvious that Tuffnut was also blaming himself and he accused Ruffnut out of frustration; he didn't actually mean it. I thought I must be the best listener in this village, because he always came to me first whenever he needed to speak his mind."

Gobber's eyes softened. "I see."

"Personally, I thought the best listener in this village is you, Gobber." The boy looked up at him and Gobber raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why is that?"

"I've been spilling my thoughts to you, but you didn't interrupt or judging me or anything." He said. "I'm sure that's why Hiccup was always so comfortable around you."

The man smiled wistfully. "I sure hope so too, kid."

.

.

.

.

Fishlegs was still reading the books he had borrowed from Hiccup's room in the smithy when Tuffnut appeared in the library's doorway and silently trudged up to him. He warily wondered how Tuffnut found him and what business he had with him. He had never told anyone except Gobber that the library was now his secret favourite spot.

He was silent. Fishlegs was still disturbed by this new person that looked like Tuffnut, but acted nothing like him. The old Tuffnut he knew would have laughed at his face and insulted him because reading was not what Vikings do. But this new Tuffnut just wordlessly sat beside him, leaning on a bookcase and started to clean his axe. Fishlegs knew that Tuffnut rarely talked now, even to his own sister, but he had never imagined he would come to him wordlessly like this.

Tuffnut never said anything to explain his presence and he didn't bother him—not really; so Fishlegs didn't ask and turned away from him to go back to his reading. Soon enough, Fishlegs was absorbed to the words in the books and forgotten entirely about Tuffnut's new silent presence by his side. They were like that until the sun down and when Fishlegs got up and gathered his books to leave, Tuffnut also wordlessly got up and silently went back home without saying anything, leaving Fishlegs to walk home by himself. The first thought that ran through his head was, "that was awkward. Let's never do that again."

Two days later, as usual, Fishlegs contained himself in the library, in the company of the books that he loved. Once again, Tuffnut came and sit beside him. Once again, Fishlegs was left wondering what was in his friend's mind, but didn't ask. It was awkward the first few days, but without he knew it, it became some sort of routine between the two of them.

Fishlegs learnt that there was no pattern to Tuffnut's visits. It looked like he just visited whenever he liked it and went away whenever he felt like it. He didn't really stay until sun down either. Sometimes he came earlier than him or went away earlier than him. Sometimes he visited just once a week, or twice a week. There was that one time he visited three days in a row. But it was always the same; they would just sit together, doing their own things, wordlessly. It wasn't an awkward silence now; just a comfortable silence of two friends who enjoyed each other's company.

The chubby boy suddenly realized that Tuffnut might be lonely. Ruffnut was training under Elder Gothi, so she could have someone to talk to. But Tuffnut was training together with the other teenagers, like Astrid and Snotlout—and they never hang out together anymore. Gobber might be more than willing to listen to Fishlegs or talk to Astrid, but he doubted that he would be so gracious to Tuffnut, the one who had bullied Hiccup so torturously together with Snotlout back when she was still alive. They both knew Gobber could be cruel when he wanted to be. That was why he thought that he was the only one Tuffnut could go and talk to without judgment. But the old, awkward Tuffnut who couldn't really express his feelings was still there, so he didn't say anything and let him when Tuffnut was only sitting there and cleaning his axe while he was reading. Fishlegs knew he would talk when he was ready.

It was three weeks and ten visits later that Tuffnut started to talk (and yes, Fishlegs counted that). He talked about the smallest things at first, "It's rather cold today, isn't it." "The training was especially difficult today." "Snotlout was being an idiot again." "I sparred with Astrid earlier." "She is ridiculously strong."

Then before long, it became, "I want to become strong like her." "I want to protect people I care about." "I wonder how Ruffnut is doing." "We rarely talk nowadays." "I kinda wish Hiccup is still here." "She would know what to say to her."

Then it became deeper. "I wish I've never bullied her in the first place." "We never meant anything serious." "We just wanted to mess with her a bit." "I know we were just jealous of her." "She was allowed to paint." "I wanted to paint too but father said painting is not what proper Vikings do." "She was allowed to read." "Ruffnut wanted to read too but mother said that reading is not what normal Vikings do." "She was allowed to craft." "I wanted to craft things too, but father pushed an axe to me and said that I am destined to kill dragons." "She was allowed to play in the woods and even cook." "Ruffnut wanted to do that too, but mother pushed her to learn how to concoct healing paste from plants instead of teaching her how to cook."

"We were never allowed to do what we wanted to do. So we pushed her around; we wanted her to do what we're forced to do too. But she never did, she just did what she likes, and we were jealous. People openly ostracized her and labelled her an oddball—even Mildew tried to threw rocks at her. So we thought that being different is bad, being different like Hiccup is not something we are supposed to do. So we tried to fit in. When Snotlout openly threw mud or eggs at her, we followed because we thought it looked 'cool'. When he openly insulted her, we followed because we thought it would fit us in."

"No one's death has been opened my eyes like Hiccup's did. We never actually fit in in the first place. Like Hiccup, we are weird. We just pretend that we fit in so people accepted us. But now that she's dead, all I want now is just to become stronger. I want to be stronger, so I can protect Ruffnut and mother and father. So nobody would die like Hiccup did."

Fishlegs gulped his dry throat and chocked on his own tears. Tuffnut didn't cry, but he did. He supposed perhaps Tuffnut had run out of tears already when he realized all of these, so he cried instead. Tuffnut just looked at him when sobbed disgustingly and snorted an amused laugh. "Idiot, why are you the one crying? I'm the one who supposed to do that." Fishlegs wailed louder. Tuffnut smiled wistfully but he stayed, waiting for his tears to stop. He never judged him or mocked him for crying. He just waited until his crying stopped.

That day, before the sun down, Tuffnut asked for his favour. "You must've read every book in this library by now, don't you?"

"Not every book, but I suppose you can say so. Why?"

"Can you tell me which the best book about herbal plants is? I want to give them to Ruffnut tonight. Maybe after that we can talk without being awkward again."

Being the gracious person he is, Fishlegs gave him the most detailed book about plants that he had ever read. It was thick, hard-covered, coloured dark green, and had the picture of a pink flower and many kinds of leaves. The title was written in elegant, curvy runes, "HERBALIST GUIDE. Written by Janison Hawkethorney." It was rather worn and dirty with charcoal. Only Fishlegs who knew why it was like worn out like that; it was because Hiccup used to read them repeatedly and brought it with her everywhere when they were small.

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Two days after Tuffnut's confession, he hadn't visited again but that was fine. Fishlegs supposed he was busy training; after all, he said it himself that he wanted to be stronger.

He wandered into the woods that day for a change. He usually cooped himself up in the library, but Fishlegs was not stupid. He knew it was a bad habit and staying cooped up in a damp dark place is not healthy. So he decided to breathe some fresh air. Besides, it's not really his first time in the forest either. He used to came here often with Hiccup, back when she was still alive, when they were still friends. They were still barely seven years old then. But even then, without him, Hiccup still meandered into the forest no matter what people say. He supposed the forest really had that kind of air that made someone feel safe.

The forest was cold and covered with snow, but that didn't stop him. He wore the thickest bear coat he could find and brought along a book and some charcoal. He wanted to write something as a journal, like the ancestors had done before them who left their journals so they can learn from their past mistakes.

He supposed writing small unimportant things could be a good start. He found a comfortable and dry spot to sit on. It's not too far from the village that he'd lost, but far enough that he'd need to have a good walk. He started to write inane things. First he was writing about himself; who he was, when he was born, who his parents were, what kind of community he was living in, about Berk, then about his friends. He wrote about the happy-go-lucky Gobber, the mean and bully Snotlout, the very stoic cold Astrid, and the twins' mischief. He was just about to start to write about Hiccup when someone stumbled upon him.

Fishlegs looked up at the sound of foot stepping over fresh snow and his eyes found Ruffnut's. He was so shocked that he was unable to say anything, while Ruffnut looked no less like a mice being cornered by a cat, ready to sprang away anytime. They just stood there, neither moved or dared say anything. He supposed Ruffnut must be out searching for some herbs, since she is training under Elder Gothi now.

He tried to diffuse to tension. He smiled awkwardly. "Hey, Ruff. Long time no see."

Ruffnut looked at anywhere else but him right now, but she shrugged. "Yeah. You too."

More awkward silence. "U-um, why are here?"

"Elder Gothi wanted me to look for herbs."

"But it's winter."

"This particular plant only grows in winter."

"Really?" Fishlegs was interested now. "What is it?"

Ruffnut snuffled from feet to feet, like she couldn't wait to get away. "Snow-drop."

Fishlegs smiled. He remembered that plant. "For other elders, I suppose?"

Ruffnut looked rather intrigued that he knew what it was for. "Yeah. You know about it?"

"Yeah. I confined myself in the library not to sleep the day away, you know." He closed his journal and stood up. "Let me help you find it."

Ruffnut looked like she was about to refuse, but then she nodded hesitantly and followed him when he turned away. "You know where to find it?"

Fishlegs nodded. "Yeah. It's been a long time, but I used to wander the forest along with Hiccup when we were kids." The mention of Hiccup's name brought an icy silence that was almost as cold that snow around them. He knew that he should stop talking but his mouth wouldn't stop. "We were still at least five or six back then. We were close because we had the same interests. We usually go visit the library, searching for good books to read, and wondered into the forest to play. Hiccup was always the one who lead the way. She knew this forest like the back of her hand—she never got lost. Not in this forest."

Fishlegs smiled at his own memories that seemed like from another life entirely. "She was a cheerful lass back then, you know. Always curious and always came up with ideas, no matter how ridiculous they were. Once, she dragged me to the river to look for trolls. Apparently she had read a folklore book about trolls and was determined to prove its existence." Fishlegs laughed at the memory. "She loved a book about herbal plants and after reading it together, we would play into the woods searching for said plants. Hiccup would always jot down where she found them so she could pick them whenever she needed to. The book became filled with her scribbles, but even then we only able to find about a dozen plants from the whole book."

"But soon after that, Mildew accused her being cursed by Thor in front of public just because she had painted a poor painting of Thor. Everything changed then. Snotlout began to bully her because she was different and he threatened me not to befriend her again. If not, I will become as much a victim as her." The silence was heavier now.

Fishlegs frowned at his own weakness. "If only I was stronger," he said. "If only I was brave enough to say 'no' to Snotlout. If only I stayed by her side, then perhaps Hiccup would be happier. Even though I was bullied, but at least I stayed by her side. We could suffer together; it would be more bearable that way, instead of letting her suffering alone. But I was selfish. I wanted to fit in too. I have never saw Hiccup as an oddball. But I…" He trailed off.

"Anyway, we're here." Fishlegs stepped into a small clearing. On the snow-covered ground, grew countless of small snowdrops. It's green stems looked like grass and it's small blossoms hung almost lifelessly towards the snow. "I hope you know the way back. This place is a bit far from the village."

Ruffnut passively stared at the small snow-covered garden filled with snowdrops. She didn't look like she heard him anymore. Fishlegs supposed he was a bit too far when he was talking about his memories from Hiccup earlier. "So yeah, I'll see you around, Ruff." He awkwardly saw himself out.

"I was selfish too," Fishlegs froze when he heard Ruffnut's soft voice. "I was jealous of Hiccup. She seemed happy doing her own things. Even when the folks labelled her as an oddball, as a runt, as a hiccup, she seemed content doing the things she liked. She never let the whispers, gossips, and name-calling pushed her around. She struggled through them and did things that made her happy. Now that I think about it, it was probably the only thing that made her content."

Fishlegs had heard Tuffnut's version of this tale, but he listened anyway. "I've always wanted to be a herbalist like her, always wanted to know the things she knew. It never struck upon me that I can just ask her how to be one instead of calling her stupid names. Now that I think about it, maybe Hiccup was not the only one who didn't fit in. Perhaps all of us have never fit in in the first place and just pretended to be so just to have someone to push around."

"Anyway, thanks for showing me the way, Fishlegs. I can find my own way back, don't worry." She then entered the clearing and gathered the snowdrops into the basket she brought along.

Fishlegs was staring at her back for some time before decided to leave. Her words lingered in his head. " _Perhaps all of us have never fit in in the first place and just pretended to be so just to have someone to push around_." Fishlegs knew how right she was. None of them in that group has ever fit in; not him, not the twins. Not even Astrid.

He stole a last glance to Ruffnut's back to make sure she was okay and his eyes strayed to the book on her basket. It was the same book he had given Tuffnut two nights before. The same book that Hiccup had loved.

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Author's note:

Sorry for the long wait, everyone. Goodness, this chapter is awfully hard to write! I have never wrote this level of guilt, regret, and sadness before, and this chapter reeks of them. And this is just one part of it. It was getting too long so I had to cut it into two parts. I still have Astrid's story to write. It's going to be even more difficult. I have never written in Astrid point of view before so it's going to be a challenge.

But even with how difficult this was, I have fun with it! I love writing people of Berk. I especially love my interpretation of Gobber and the twins. I've written them in Fishlegs' point of view because I thought I should start to tell stories from the characters' conversations instead of long-ass descriptive paragraphs. That's also the reason why I decided to cut almost all descriptive paragraphs that I think wasn't really important, but then I get paranoid because I thought it wouldn't be enough. So yeah. That's part of why this chapter is so late. I hope you are comfortable with it. Tell me if you have trouble imagining things when reading it, so I can do it better.

Now, I've done a very small research about snowdrops. I know it doesn't really grow in winter, but in early spring. But for the sake of the plot, please pretend that it does, okay? And I've chosen snowdrops because it has the substance to act as an antidote for certain poisons and is helpful for treating Alzheimer disease. But at the same it contains poisons too. Now I am not a chemist and reading about it confused me, so I only left it at "helpful to treat the elders" because I don't really understand. So please cut me some slack.

I'm truly sorry for the late update. But I hope this chapter is enough to quench your curiosity for now until next month. Thank you for waiting so (im)patiently. Please tell me what you feel about this chapter in the review box below. Thank you too for everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited this story so far. I'm really glad you're all enjoying this story.

MMM: Hiccup will be fine, but it'll be at least one more chapter before you see her. Thank you for reviewing :D

Monkey lover 911: Thank you for reviewing. Please keep an eye for the next update ;)

Guest: Thank you and I'm glad you're enjoying this story so far. I hope you will be back for more.

Thank you everyone who reviewed this story. I'm sorry I can't reply to all of you. Please understand that internet in my country is still a luxury and costs a lot of money. I also don't receive any profits from this work. So I really appreciate all of you who spare your precious times into reading this story that is still far from perfect. The only thing that keeps me going is your responds that told me to keep going. So thank you. I love you all 3 I'll see you in the next chapter. Bye :D


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